


Silver Lining

by HeIsSoBlue



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: All the Lance, Altean Lance (Voltron), Alteans, Angst, Because I wasn't completely satisfied, Blue being awesome, Capture, Druids, Family, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Happy Ending, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Langst, More Lance, Possible spoilers from season 2, Prison, Violence, he's doing his best, hopefully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2018-09-21 14:10:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9552353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeIsSoBlue/pseuds/HeIsSoBlue
Summary: Being captured by the Galra was probably one of the worst things Lance could imagine. Yet, even the worst situations can come with a silver lining.





	1. This Sucks, Probably Keith's Fault

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone else slightly disappointed at the lack of Lance and other major characters in the second season? No? I surely haven't seen any rants ;) well have this.  
> Let me know what you think, constructive criticism is appreciated.

The first thing he thought was that it was quiet, more than what he was normally used to. There was a slight scraping noise that was slowly growing louder as the fog cleared in his mind. Soon he registered the floor moving beneath his back and the sound finally clicked as his own body being dragged. His eyelids were still drooping, fighting him from opening fully. Flashes of purple lights invaded his reduced vision and the pain slowly creeping into his bones confirmed where he was.

A Galra ship.

Now if he could just remember why he was on one that'd be great. Was it his own fault? Had everyone been captured? What exactly was going on here? The Galra soldier dragging him by his tied hands through a door and halted before he could figure anything out.

Man, he'd love to know what happened to make it feel like he was put through a blender but his mind pulled a blank. His chest hurt, it was difficult to get in a full breath. He didn't think he could move much even if he wanted to.

"What is this? I told you to grab the small green one."

"This one pushed the green one out of the way. We did not have time to capture any others."

"You have failed your mission. Reported to Commander Ratak."

Lance breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't captured Pidge. Or the others by the sound of it.

"Oh man, you wanted the green paladin? Did I just save you a world of pain."

It took him a two seconds to realize that was his own voice suddenly speaking up. Both voices stopped and he could feel eyes on him. He took that as an invitation to continue talking. Not a smart idea but hey, he was a nervous talker and in this situation on a Galra ship one could say he was a tinsey bit nervous.

"I mean, she'd be hacking your systems by now even with her hands restrained, she'd be on a pod back to Voltron in no time flat. I'm sure she'd find a way to send all your Galra pals all your embarrassing naked baby pictures too while she was at it, she's hilarious like that. She'd probably even-"

He was silenced when another guard landed a solid punch to his face, snapping his face to the side. Lance had been punched before, probably more than he'd like to admit but that was without a doubt the angriest punch he'd ever been on the wrong side of. His brain lagged behind and his vision blurred staring at the floor, his jaw open in shock. Drops of blood dripped onto the ground from his lips forming a growing puddle. It would've been nice to have his helmet at that moment of time, he wondered morbidly if it would've broken under the impact. His cheekbone seemed to have.

"I'd advise you silence yourself before we do it for you."

The retort, something about how they do that exactly, if it was by removing their prisoners tongues and if so where do they put them after? Did they have a big room of tongues? Did they _eat_ them? They probably did, filthy tongue eaters. It was one of the toughest things he had ever had to do, not to obnoxiously ask those questions just to see the looks on their faces.

He wasn't even sure if the questions were truly as funny as he thought or if it was the concussion talking that he so obviously had.

Either way he didn't ask but he couldn't resist a chuckle at his own thoughts.

Which earned him a swift kick to his midsection, he curled up on himself as best he could and tried to get a breath into his lungs. Something had happened to his chest in the blank part of his recent memories and it made it harder to breath on a regular basis, mouthing off could get damage it beyond repair. He needed to heal but first he needed to _breathe._ A few more words were exchanged between the two Galra that he was too dazed to hear and he was dragged away. He let himself go limp, too exhausted and worn to stand and fight, finally managing to get in a few small breathes.

Did he mean to hook his foot on every corner when they turned so the soldier would have to tug him off of it? Maybe. Did he dig his heels into the ground to make it a little harder to drag him? Perhaps. He had to do something, he couldn't completely let them get their way. By the time they stopped at a door he was thoroughly spent in his little acts of rebellion. The Galra soldier, a little more lanky then he usually saw them, with a crooked scar across his forehead dropped his tied hands and began pulling on his armor.

That sent a little alarm through Lance's mind, without a second thought he swung, no one undressed him without his consent. His hands collided with the purple face above him. It wasn't very hard though, not enough strength behind it, the hit didn't even move the Galra's face. Apparently his patience with Lance had ran out and with a simple rough backhand he left Lance staring dizzily at the walled too stunned to do anything else.

Lance felt the armor being removed, not too gently, until nothing but his black suit under-armor remained. Thankfully it stopped there, the door was unlocked and Lance was picked up by the front of his shirt and thrown inside. He landed on his side, head cracking against the floor, hard and uncaring. The door slammed shut and the room was thrown into darkness.

For a moment Lance's heart raced again, thinking that he'd be alone in the cold dark. His eyes began to adjust however and he realized that there was light, albeit dim, but enough to see around a bit, his tied hands in front of him came into view. Before he could take in his new surroundings there was a hand on his back and Lance flinched roughly, jostling everything all over again. He had to get away.

He had to get away.

He had to move. Move. Move. _Move_ dammit!

His body didn't really listen, barely twitching away in exhaustion. He didn't mean to let out a rather high pitched keening noise but damn everything hurt.

"Hey, hey. Shhh. You're okay. You're okay. Stop moving. You're gonna be okay."

At that he snorted. How was any of this okay? But he sucked in breaths and tried to calm down anyway. The hand returned, pressing warmth into his back.

The warmth made him freeze. That was something odd about that hand, in the fact that the hand wasn't alien at all. That right there was a human hand.

His head managed to turn, just enough so he could peer up at whoever was trying to comfort him. The young man's eyes that met his widened in surprise as did Lance's.

"You're human? What is another human doing way out here?" The other man said in surprise.

Lance couldn't breathe, there, kneeling behind him was the spitting image of Pidge. Orange hair all astray, a little less feminine but there he was. One of the people Pidge had sacrificed so much for to find.

"Matt?"


	2. My Bloodthirstiness Is Not High Enough To Work For The Galra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't resist adding another chapter today. Enjoy!!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

"How do you know my name?" Came the confused reply with a shuffling of feet as Matt moved around to Lance's front.

"Oh man. Holy shit. You're Matt. Matt Gunderson! No way. That's crazy. What are the chances?" Lance was freaking out. He'd found him! Somehow. He had found Pidge's brother and the guy was looking down at him super confused but otherwise looked okay. He was okay!

"You've got ten seconds to tell me how you know my name." Matt's voice was less gentle now, Lance guessed being a prisoner for so long would make you suspicious of people. But this was Pidge's brother! Practically family! Lance would reunite them. Somehow. He had found one of the people Pidge had been looking for! She'd be so happy, now they just had to bust outta here somehow.

He tried to sit up, putting his hands beneath him he pushed. That was a big mistake, his limbs shook under him and he just fell back to where he started. He growled in his throat in frustration as the pain returned.

"Whoa, take it easy there."

"Finally found you and I can't even get up. Hey, can you help me sit up?"

"Uh, I don't think it's a good idea to move." A gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Please? I can't just lie here forever. I'd like to sit up to talk for a bit."

Matt seemed to chew on the inside of his cheek before he decided and reached out.

"Okay, tell me if I should stop."

With a nod of conformation from Lance, Matt put his hands under Lance's armpits and as softly as he could eased his body off the floor and towards a nearby wall. He tried to breathe through the pain but there was something sharp inside him that spiked and his vision darkened and he was gone into the sweet world of unconsciousness.

He came back, feeling as if he never passed out but some time had obviously passed. There was a blanket draped over him, slipped behind him too so his back wasn't cold against the wall. A voice was muttering, if he didn't know any better he'd think it belonged to Pidge. He listened for a little bit at the paranoid ramblings and hidden apologies directed at him that made him smile. They were so family.

"I told you moving you was a bad idea and then I went and moved you anyway...but I mean if you opened your stupid mouth to stay stop like I said then I would've stopped..."

"Well I would have if I hadn't passed out right away." Was Lance's retort. Matt flinched, stopping his worried pacing and knelt down next to Lance.

"You ready to answer my questions now?" Matt asked, eyes hardening. Lance sighed as he struggled to keep his eyes open, a nap would have to wait.

"I'll answer as much as I can, can't say most of it won't sound crazy." Lance stated, working his jaw a bit. He could feel it swelling and his mouth tasted like blood, his lip was sore too but it didn't feel like anything was broken. He wondered what his face looked like. No skin care routines here, his poor skin.

"You working for the Galra?"

Lance's eyebrows furrowed at that one as he looked up to meet Matt's eyes.

"Does it really look like I get along with them? What kind of question is that anyway? Wouldn't I be saying 'no' either way?" Lance asked.

"Well, can't say I trust them with who they give me for roommates." Matt said, looking away to the far side of the room. Small room actually now that Lance looked quickly. Some kind of toilet in the corner of the room, a sink like thing too. Some blankets in the corner. Quaint really.

"Well, I promise you I'm not on their side. What I really want is to get you, and I, out of here."

Confusion returned to Matt's face. Lance had a feeling he'd be seeing a lot of that.

"Why? How do you know me?"

"That's the best thing. Prepare to have your mind blown." Lance said, pausing for effect. "Your sister."

Another confused pause.

"Katie? What does Katie have to do with any of this? How do you know her?"

"My man, Pidge has been looking for you and let me tell you nothing is going to stop her until she finds you. That girl is dedicated, she will fight through anything for you. Quite the sibling you got there."

"Wait, wait. I'm confused. She's on Earth. Safe on Earth."

"Sorry to burst your bubble but she's really not. Not on Earth. Being safe on the other hand is debatable. I mean, if anyone could handle themselves in intergalactic warfare against a vicious alien species it's probably her."

"She's here?!" Matt grabbed Lance's shoulders in alarm, his face showing blatant panic. Lance sucked air through his teeth as his injuries were jostled. A small apology reached his ears as Matt released him.

"S'okay. She's not on this ship no. She's part of Voltron, the green paladin. I'm the blue paladin." Lance explained, leaning his head back against the wall as he grew more tired.

"She's a paladin? As in a paladin of Voltron? I've heard of Voltron. It's all the Galra talk about, what the hell has she gotten herself into?"

"Well, she's been saving hundreds of aliens on her way to find you. She's a hero. Got us out of a lot of bad situations, couldn't do it without her really."

"Really? Hah, I can't picture it." Matt laughed lightly.

"She snuck into the garrison as a boy, was learning how to fly. She was on my team actually, you know before the crazy flying robot thing became an option." Lance continued, seeing Matt's eyes light up.

"Katie hacked her way in didn't she? Dad always told her that would get her into trouble one day." Matt rubbed a hand down his face in exasperation but Lance could tell he was truly happy that his sister was well.

"Yep, she's hacked a lot of stuff since then too. Hey, where is your Dad?" Lance rolled his head, looking around somehow expecting him to be nearby.

"He escaped, about a week ago actually. A bunch of rogue aliens busted in here, saving a bunch of prisoners. Well, all but me. I got caught on the way out. Dad obviously didn't want to leave me but one of the rogue picked him up and carried him away. Left me behind."

Lance frowned, he didn't seem to blame his Dad at all but he could feel the loneliness radiating off the young man.

"I'm sorry. At least he's safe." Lance didn't add the 'probably' in there like his brain wanted to. He was probably safe, there wasn't a lot of rogue groups out there that were saving prisoners just for the greater good but he had to hope.

There was a pregnant silence, a bit awkward as Matt clearly thought about it probably along the same line that Lance was thinking. Lance decided to try to cheer him up.

"You know, I think you know our black paladin. Quite well actually." He begun, showing a smirk at the raised eyebrow he got.

"Just this awesome guy named Shiro. He's been looking for you too, you're pretty popular hey?"

"Shiro? Takashi Shirogane? He's okay? He's really okay? I haven't seen him since...I thought..." Matt's face cracked, his hands coming up to hide his face as his shoulders shook. "I never thought I'd hear about any of them again... but they are okay? Really?"

The watery eyes looking up at him now took the air out of his lungs, he could only nod in assurance as the tears finally spilled over and he hid his face in his hands again. So far for making him happy, he made the guy cry. Out of happiness perhaps but still. He made a mental note that he never ever wanted to see Pidge cry, he didn't want to know what crazy things he'd do to make her stop. That was not a face he ever wanted to see.

Just when Lance thought it was getting awkward and wishing he had his hands free so he could at least pat the guy on the back or something Matt's head raised, his face determined.

"So. How are we going to get out of here."

Lance pursed his lips in thought.

"That's a great question that I do not have the answer to."

The determination dropped off Matt's face.

"What do you mean? You don't have a plan to get out? I thought you were one of the great paladins of Voltron?"

"Now, now...I didn't say great. If you hadn't noticed it wasn't really part of my plan to get caught in here in the first place. I can hardly function enough to stay awake at this point, let alone come up with a daring escape plan."

Matt just continued frowning, clearly disappointed with Lance.

"Ugh, you're smart right? Why haven't you figured a way out yet then?"

Now Matt crossed his arms and looked away. Pouting. Yeah, that will solve their problems.

"Okay, okay, listen. I'm gonna have a nap. A probably very long nap and when I wake up we will think about this again okay? I can't think straight when my thoughts have to battle against my heartbeat."

"We should probably check to see how bad your wounds are..." Matt muttered, uncrossing his arms and walking over to the sink. He grabbed a small metal cup that was on the edge and filled it with what Lance really hoped was water.

"Here." The cup was placed in his hands and Lance thanked all the crazy alien gods that it was actually water, lukewarm but Lance was truly never more thankful. Plus it was still better than nunvil, anything was really. He chugged it in seconds wincing as he used the swollen muscles in his face but it quenched his thirst for now. Matt had gotten up and returned with a wet rag, he handed it to Lance.

Once Lance put the cup on the ground he took the wet rag and placed it gently on his face. It was heaven, it felt cool on his face though he knew it wasn't, his face was just hot with swollen flesh. He sighed. He wished he was back on the ship, sleeping in his own bed.

"We should take a look at your chest too. Though there's not a lot we can do for you at this point..." Matt looked apologetic, Lance got it. No Advil here, check.

"Fun." Lance muttered. "Could you?" He asked, leaning forward a smidge so Matt could reach the zipper on his neck. Without another word Matt helped him out, unzipping to his lower back and easing as much of the fabric forward off of Lance. It was a bit awkward since his hands were still tied so they couldn't take his hands out of the sleeves so he just had to crumple the fabric at his waist and wrists instead. Plus, also awkward getting half undressed in front of a stranger but by this point Lance was so tired he didn't care. He was truly distracted from feeling tired and awkward once he got sight of his chest.

They were both a little speechless.

You know when you hurt yourself and it kinda hurts but you're okay...until you look at it and suddenly it hurts a million times more.

That was what was happening now.

It was a purple, like his whole chest was purple deepening to black in the middle. Lance had never seen anything like that before, how did he get that. How did he survive that? How was he even breathing? That had to be the worst bruise he's even seen.

It was suddenly harder to breathe, his breath didn't get into his lungs. It hurt, it hurt so bad he was gonna pass out. He couldn't breathe. He was bleeding internally. This was bad. He needed to breathe.

"Whoa, whoa, breathe man. You're okay. That doesn't look good but you can still breathe, come on now."

His voice was calming, like Hunk. God, Lance missed Hunk right now. He needed a hug, a good ol' Hunk hug. His eyes stung with tears. Hell, he'd take Keith yelling at him even, nothing was more distracting than that. He needed his family, blood or his Voltron family. Lance had been gone not even a day and already he felt an ache in his chest. He missed them.

Hands on his face brought him up to meet Matt's eyes.

"Come on, focus here. You gotta stay with me okay? What's your name? I don't even know what to call you."

Distraction. Good. They should do that.

"L-Lance." Okay. He had air. Or he wouldn't be able to say a word. Good.

"Okay Lance, you've gotta breathe okay. Here with me."

Now Matt made obvious deep breathes and Lance did his best to follow along. Lance guessed he was having some kind of panic attack, great, way to appear cool in front of Pidge's older brother. They were really off to a great start.

Eventually they got his breathing under control. Now he couldn't keep his eyes open. Not an ounce of energy left.

"Alright, come on now. I think it's best you lie down to sleep."

Lance understood but didn't make a move.

Gentle hands guided him to the floor, something soft under his head. He lay on his side again, hands still tied and sleeves still pulled down around them. A blanket was fixed on top of him and he thought no more.

___________________________________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments make me super happy and a faster typer! Seriously. Scientifically proven!  
> Thanks for reading! ^^


	3. Not Worth A Space Rock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your response!! Enjoy!

It was just Pidge and him, walking on the floor of a heavily covered rain forest, leaves crunching beneath their feet. It was uncomfortably hot and the two had been constantly complaining, eventually it became a contest of who could come up with the dumbest thing to complain about. Anything from cursing the three suns that hung above them to being genetically predisposed to sweat more than a regular person. It was hilarious and had past the time. They were in their minimal armor but it didn't help much, just less weight on their bodies and no jet packs. Probably would've been easier to use them to fly but there was way too many vines and swooping branches.

They had to ditch their lions a ways back, their bulky masses couldn't get through forest without tearing it all down along the way, which according to Allura the natives to the area would not be okay with. So they trudged on, Lance enjoyed hearing the annoyed sighs of Keith as he was forced to listen to Pidge and their complaining extravaganza.

The castle was quite a ways off, Allura and Coran still with the Natives trying to convince them to join Voltron's growing 'army' against Zarkon. The Natives, a large tribe calling themselves the Gheti, said they would only join them if they proved themselves worthy. Finding a piece of Neita would prove they were.

That's when the boring story time had begun, Lance did his best trying to follow along but he couldn't help winking at some nearby alien ladies setting them off into giggles. Once he got an elbow in his ribs from Shiro he begrudgingly paid attention.

Apparently the goddess of Neita fell from the sky long ago, gracing the Gheti with her beauty as she broke into pieces and spread amongst the world. They had collected pieces of her throughout time, she became the centerpiece of the tribe.

You wanna know what Lance saw sitting there in the center of the tribe?

Rocks.

A pile of space rocks.

Neita was just an asteroid that burnt up in the atmosphere.

And now they were on their way to find another part of, that's right, a fricken' rock. Then they can haul said rock back to the tribe and have the tribe of rock worshipers on their side. Yay.

His idea of just popping into space and bringing back any rock just floating up there was shot down. Allura found a certain rare frequency that the rocks let off, a lot of mumbo jumbo Lance didn't really listen to, he only heard that the Gheti were sensitive to frequencies and they would know the difference. They were sensitive to rocks. Great.

So off they went to hunt down a rock.

Shiro, Hunk, and Keith were flying nearby as backup. Lance and Pidge definitely drew the short straws on this one, the other three enjoying their nice air-conditioned lions and just hanging out. Shiro said there was no sense all of them going down there as he told the two of them to go. The Natives had said there was no dangerous wildlife in the area and as soon as they found the rock they just had grab it and head back. Easy peasy, Allura had found the closest one by using the Castle to track down the frequency, it wasn't big, the size of a fist apparently. A fist sized rock in a forest, there was only a few of those around right? Wrong.

It was nice though, Lance remembered, talking to everyone though the com links. He didn't feel so alone. He had started to feel isolated recently, it was nice to have a chill mission where he could talk and socialize a bit more with his team.

Of course good times all come to an end and this one did so without much of a warning.

There was a lot of voices at once, things about Galra ships were shouted into his ears. That's all Lance needed before him and Pidge were booking it through the trees back to their lions.

"Head's up!"

That was Keith's voice. Lance had a split second to look up, seeing a small destroyed Galra fighter ship breaking its way through the canopy. Quickly he grabbed Pidge's arm, roughly diving off to the side and narrowly missing the metal heap careening with the ground. It was loud and the air heated up as most of it exploded into a nasty fireball.

So far for not harming the forest, the Gheti were gonna be pissed.

They had somehow made it out unscathed, rolling over in the brush and standing up shakily. Lance brushed himself off, giving Pidge a smirk in response to the nod she gave him. It was her 'I acknowledge the fact you saved me' nod. Those were the best. That meant she'd be extra nice to him for the next few days, maybe she'd figure out how to add some kind of new songs onto his ipod. That would be awesome.

"You guys okay?" Shiro's voice came through, the undertone of panic slipping out a bit.

"Barely, a little more warning next time would be nice." Lance drawled.

"At least I warned you, you always brag about being faster than me so you should be fast enough to get out of the way." Keith scoffed but Lance could hear the relief in his joking tone.

Lance peered to his left, there was a small cliff beside them, a steep slope into a rushing river. They had been lucky they didn't fall in there, it would be a pain to be swept away from the direction of the lions. Their helmets were closed due to the different atmosphere though, so there was no real danger of drowning but still.

"We could use some help up here guys! We are seriously outnumbered!" Hunk's nervous voice came through.

"They are forcing us away from you! Get out of there!" Keith seemed worried, that wasn't a good sign. They needed to move.

"On it." Pidge said, taking a step toward the lions which were still at least a kilometer away.

That was when Lance caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. A large ship was floating above them in the clouds, peering at them eerily over the clouds through the canopy opening. A flash of light, purple.

Lance wasn't sure what it was but it was coming in at them ridiculously fast. He did the only thing that made sense to him at the time, he pushed Pidge towards the water. For a second he got some serious deja vu about when something similar had happened with Coran.

She slipped, spinning as she fell, face full of surprise and a tinge of anger. So typical of Pidge. Her face changed though as he was engulfed with purple light. There was fear there now. Fear for him.

"LANCE!"

Then he was weightless. He couldn't move. It was odd, getting lifted without feeling anything lifting him. He could move his eyes but that was it, he watched Pidge fall beneath the water and get washed away to what he hoped was safety. She was screaming all the way at him so he knew she was okay for now. That was a lot of swear words.

Getting beamed up was faster and scarier than Lance expected it to be, he was suddenly above the forest high in the sky, he could see the three lions in the near distance. His heart beat wildly in his ears. The shadow of the Galra ship loomed above him, coming up fast. Lance prayed his team could get to him in time.

"Hunk! Aim for that ship!" Shiro's voice rang out in Lance's helmet. Not even a second later an orange beam sliced through the air hitting the side of the ship tipping it enough that the beam moved and suddenly he was free.

Free-falling. But free.

Took him a second to remember he did not in fact have his jet pack on. That would've been great to have at this moment of time.

"Keith! GO!" Shiro shouted. At least Lance was pretty sure it was Shiro, it was hard to hear over his own screaming.

His arms flailed a little less gracefully than Lance would ever admit but he was hurdling towards some rather unforgiving looking forest. His head whipped around and found Red rocketing over to him.

An overwhelming sense of safety came over him then. Red was there, fastest lion out there. He was saved. He'd be okay! Red got close, Lance stretched out his arms and let out a huge 'whoop!'.

Then Red's face exploded as a beam hit at the worst possible timing. There was no time before the huge body was flipping backwards through the sky, it's metallic tail came whipping up from out of no where and suddenly it was all Lance could see.

It hit him, he remembered taking the brunt of it to his chest and all the air in his lungs was gone. Lance couldn't breathe, he was thrown upwards as Red fell down towards the dirt. He heard his name screamed again. Lance didn't think he'd ever heard Keith sound like that, he sounded so terrified. It was all so unreal.

There was a lot of yelling in his ears, he wished he could answer but he was too busy choking on his lack of air.

The purple beam returned. Somehow plucking him out of the sky. That would be amazing if it wasn't such a bad thing. His body came to an abrupt halt. His lungs were still failing him, his vision darkened dangerously.

He saw Red hitting the trees below.

The palace in the distance flying towards them.

Shiro and Hunk fighting desperately to get to him.

His eyes rolled back into his head.

Yellow eyes bore into his.

Blue.

Lance jolted awake.

"Ahhh, ow, ow, ow. Okay, that hurts." Lance muttered, not sure where to move his hands to offer his chest comfort.

That's when he realized his hands were free, that was nice, he flexed his fingers getting feeling into the stiff joints. The rest of his suit had been tied around his waist while he had slept, leaving his chest bare but still covered in a blanket. It was a little off putting being manipulated so much in his sleep but he was finally more comfortable so he didn't mind too much.

"Thanks." He said nodding to his hands to Matt who was sitting against a nearby wall half dosing. He seemed to wake fully with Lance's words and scooted over closer.

"No problem, I broke the handle off the cup there, it was sharp enough to cut through the bindings. I don't think it'll make a good weapon though but I hid it for now." Matt said eyes shifting over to the toilet. Lance didn't want to know.

"You looked like you were having a nightmare, I wasn't sure if I should wake you or not..." Matt continued.

"Nah, just memories. Now I remember what happened to me...though I'm pretty sure the Galra were targeting your sister when they captured me." Lance said, thinking back to what the Galra had said before and the beam he remembered in his dream. He must've really frightened the rest of his team. He wished he could send them a message somehow, let them know he was okay. He glanced down at his chest. Mostly okay. Nothing a day or two in those glorious healing pods wouldn't fix. Lance would've been pretty scared if he had seen one of his teammates get captured like that. They must have really booked it out of there too afterwards since the palace couldn't catch them.

Hopefully everyone was okay.

"Why would they want her? Why her specifically?" Matt asked worrying his bottom lip.

"Well, probably because they have you. They could use you against her. At least that's my best guess. They must have figured out that you're related." Lance whispered, getting paranoid that they'd be overhead in case he was wrong and there were open ears nearby.

Matt sighed at that, head falling in his hands again.

"This is all so messed up."

Lance nodded in agreement.

"It's alright. The rest of my team should be close behind, we can probably just wait it out." Lance said, looking up to the ceiling. No vents. Just a solid room with one locked door.

One locked door that was currently being opened. A hulking mass filled the doorway, light spilling in behind him. Not a rescue, quite the opposite really.

"Let's go paladin, time for some questions." The huge Galra soldier spat the words, stepping into the room and reaching for Lance. Two others filled the doorway behind him.

"I didn't study for this test." He muttered to Matt who looked at him in utter disbelief. Lance chuckled, yeah, he was always the one to crack jokes at the worst times in some attempt to lighten the mood.

He didn't think he could lighten this situation, it was too dark.

Much too dark.

Maybe they couldn't wait this out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments give me life.  
> Thanks for reading!


	4. The Whole Galra Takeover Was Not Kind To Your Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the lovely responses! I really appreciate it!  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!!

It took a few seconds for Lance to clue into what was happening. Matt, Pidge's brother who Lance didn't really know all that well to be honest had stood up between him and the huge mass of a Galra before them.

"Leave him alone." Matt said, his voice wavering slightly arms outstretched as if to physically block Lance more.

Lance raised his eyebrows at that, that was brave...but also very dumb. He had to get Matt out of here alive, that last detail was very important.

"Matt-" Lance opened his mouth to form some kind of protest when the soldier simply swatted Matt away, sending him stumbling to the far corner of the room. Nothing to injure him but still more force than necessary. The Galra chuckled and actually took a step towards Matt, who by now had regained his balance and was trying his best to look intimidating.

"Know your place." The Galra hissed back.

That got Lance up, anger fueled adrenaline helping him get to his feet somehow.

"Hey, flyin' purple people eater! Don't you have to bring me somewhere? I'll go nicely but only in the next ten ticks. Limited time offer." Lance started towards the door slowly,keeping a close eye on the the Galra soldier, thankfully he growled and turned towards him, leaving Matt alone.

"Lance!" Matt cried out taking a step forwards.

"I'll be okay, Matt." Lance reassured, holding a hand up to signal for him to not fight, a heavy Galra hand landed on his shoulder causing his knees to buckle momentarily as he was pushed out the door. The last thing Lance saw was the crestfallen face of Matt looking at him through the darkness. Lance was sorry but he couldn't let Matt get hurt uselessly. He'd go along with the Galra to an extent if it meant his safety, that's what being a paladin meant. A protector of peace. He had to bring Matt back safe.

Still...this was so not going to be okay.

One foot in front of the other. It was an easy concept but somewhere along the way his body decided to really forget how to do it without conscious thought. Now he had to focus hard on just staying upright, he really wasn't in the mood to be dragged down hallways again. They made it to a door, which swished open, making a sound like Star Trek doors did in the shows. So far from being in space Lance was discovering just how true some things from Star Trek were. Including alien species that just wanted to take over the universe.

How unoriginal.

There was a cloaked figure inside standing beside a small table with restraints hanging and for a moment Lance's heart jumped into his throat, she looked like Haggar.

"Put him there." She said gesturing to the table and Lance relaxed only slightly. It wasn't Haggar, the voice was too soft but it was still some kind of witch that much was for sure. Same white hair, blue skin and crazy yellow eyes. She may not be Haggar but she was definitely close enough.

Lance was pretty sure Haggar was supposed to be the strongest witch out there, hence always being with Zarkon. So this one was going to be at least a little less powerful. A little less powerful then the most powerful wasn't too reassuring in his mind.

Where was his team? How long had it been? He'd love to hear some kind of fighting going on in the hallways. He needed something.

Can she read minds? What was going to happen. He hoped the panic wasn't too obvious on his face.

He was placed on the table in the middle of the room, just long and wide enough for his body to fit. One Galra soldier held him down as the other one strapped him down, the buckles digging into his skin. Lance was really no match for the two of them, he struggled as much as he could, panic invading his head as his limbs fought back but he was too weak, his chest burning with every movement. Soon he was completely restrained, too tight to be comfortable, one strap across his shoulders, the other at his waist and multiple on his legs. He was fortunate nothing was across his abused chest directly but felt oddly exposed as his bare chest was in the open.

It was kinda chilly too.

He figured that was the least of his problems.

The witch didn't say anything, fiddling with something outside his view as the soldiers left the room.

Was he going to get tortured? He wasn't sure he could handle that.

No, he had to. He had to get through this. Had to protect his team. Had to resist whatever was next with all he's got. For the safety of his team, for Voltron, for the entire Universe he had to save. No pressure.

By the time the Haggar lookalike turned around and raised her hands to his head he was as ready as he'd ever be. Her hands touched his temple in what Lance was assuming would be some kind of crazy mind reading witch voodoo when he pushed back with everything he had in his head he pushed back hard at her. It was difficult to explain, it was like making a wall and thrusting the wall forward.

Whatever he did worked, she jerked away as if something had burnt her.

Good.

"Interesting..." She muttered, seemingly pleased.

Not good.

"Not the most common adjective to describe me, usually more along the lines of gorgeous or devilishly handsome but I'll take it. Why don't we just talk things over?" Lance chuckled uneasily. Once again unable to control his nervous mouth. She appeared to not even hear him.

Her hands returned seemingly more cautious, he pushed back again trying to throw her off for the second time but this time his eyes drifted closed unwillingly at the connection. Lance felt resistance, like two walls pushing against each other in the darkness of his mind. Her wall was sharp though, sending tendrils of cracks along his wall. Looks like he wasn't going to win this one. Trying to stop the cracks was futile, he didn't know how to repair them, he wasn't skilled in this crazy kind of stuff he was just winging it here. He was blindly grasping at the wall with his mind trying to do something.

He felt it shatter and it was a horrible feeling that left him feeling way too open and freezing. The cold seeped into his bones and he shook his head trying to get her to let him go. This wasn't right, something was seriously wrong and he could feel her in his head, prodding at memories, searching for things about his team. Her fingers dug in harder, nails scraping against his scalp.

He focused, harder than he ever had in his life. He searched his mind too, determined to gather up memories he could offer that would mean nothing to her. That one time he tried thirty types of ice cream in one day. He thought about each type of ice cream and how he felt about them. He did not like pistachio, yet he would often try it again intermittently every month or so because it was just so popular and he didn't get it. He thought maybe it was an acquired taste and it was an odd color.

He threw that one at her, thinking really hard about it so she couldn't push it away quickly.

Then there was calculus.

He just recited all the formulas he had memorized for school. Lance didn't particularly enjoy calculus but it was necessary to get into pilot school and was a common recurring theme in his classes so he had buckled down and memorized everything. Some of them he couldn't quite remember but those were the gold ones that he could think really hard about to try to re-remember them and he could literally feel the witch getting frustrated as she tried to get around it.

Then was science, lots of formulas there. All the apps on his phone, then every one he'd ever heard of and what they do.

Maybe Lance wasn't so bad at this whole mind control thing.

Next was listing every vegetable, then every fruit. Then of course tomatoes came up and how he would have categorized them. Mushrooms. Which were apparently not a vegetable. Like, Lance knew they were a fungus sure but he didn't know they weren't also a vegetable. It was just a fungus! Fungi? Fungus? Which one was singular for fungus?

Nails tightened on his head but he didn't care.

How much time had past? He could feel her hold on him slipping. That was good.

Colors. He listed every color, every shade of colors he knew and compared them in his mind. How similar they were or how different. Like the differences between fushia and generic pink.

That one was a little harder because the lions were specific colors too and he tried to not think about them but he was pretty sure they flashed in his memory since he could feel the witch push forward excitedly.

Nope. Types of things potatoes could be made into. All the different flavors of chips they could make. Every brand name of chocolate bar.

Aw, man he was hungry.

Brands of clothing, stores in the mall he used to visit. If there was one thing Lance could do it was go off on tangents that could make the most patient person's eye twitch. It was a talent really.

The pushing slowed and dissipated, he could still feel her presence but it felt like she wasn't doing anything. Just sitting there. Resting maybe?

He grew kind of grossed out at that. How could someone just take a break in his own mind? That was super weird. That was his mind, she could rest in her own damn mind.

Lance pushed back, not with a wall like before but more like he was there beside her presence and could reach out to her with his own two hands.

He meant to push her out but he didn't know what he was doing, soon as he made contact everything changed.

The darker comforts of his mind disappeared to be replaced with a bright memory. Long fields stretched out towards hills in the distance, a pond rippled beside him. The floor covered in beautiful pink flowers.

It was a memory, that much Lance could tell from how vivid it was. But it wasn't his.

Someone came into view, a guy. An Altean guy, smiling in Lance's direction as he walked to the pond dipping his fingers into the water.

The vision moved, looking over the pond. It turned down to look into the water.

There, looking through the reflection was an Altean woman. No one Lance had ever seen before, she was beautiful like Allura. She smiled.

This wasn't Lance's memory.

If it wasn't his memory then...

He was jolted back into his mind, the invasion leaving his dizzy as he stared up at the ceiling. He heard something rattle to his right and he tilted his head. The witch stared back at him, yellow eyes wide in fear.

No, he recognized that face, it had changed with time and who knew what else but the general structure was still there. He opened his mouth in disbelief.

The woman from the memory.

"You're Altean?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oohhhh shit son.  
> Comments give me life  
> Thanks for reading!!!


	5. Focus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kind comments and for all the Kudos!  
> Hope you enjoy!

 

Shiro could easily say that this was the most out of control he had seen his team, the most out of control _he had been_ of his team. The ship that had beamed Lance aboard had abruptly retreated, the smaller fighter ships along with it, leaving the remaining Voltron members scrambling for some kind of order. They had to go after Lance. They had to. Lance couldn't be under the hands of the Galra. The memories of his own time there came in flashes and nightmares and some serious PTSD he seemed to be unable to overcome. He couldn't let any of his team go through that. He's rather surrender himself all over again then subject them to that.

It took him a few seconds to snap back to attention and out of his shock. Focus.

"Allura, whats your ETA?" Shiro had to yell over the others but somehow she heard him.

"About 90 ticks." He could hear the waver in her voice, she knew what had happened, he had sent her a notification about the Galra when they appeared and she had immediately set out. It had all happened so fast Allura hadn't even gotten the time to get over to them, the planet they were on too large to just scoot across in 30 seconds.

"The trackers don't seem to be working. Possibly an advanced shield of some sort on their part. It may work if we can get a bit closer though!" Coran chimed in.

Okay. Time to make a plan.

"Keith, go get Pidge, bring her directly to the castle. Hunk you're with me, we'll grab the remaining lions. Move fast team, every second counts."

Red tore from the forest with renewed rigor, she was damaged, still smoking but seemed good enough to fly, Shiro heard Keith trying to figure out where Pidge was. Pidge was already apparently climbing a tree to be able to direct Keith to her. Smart kid. Hunk and him went flew off, diving into the spot they had last seen Lance. Hunk was quiet.

"You okay Hunk?"

"No. No I'm not okay. How could any of this be okay? He...we have to get him back Shiro. Like now." Hunk said, trying to contain his sniffles but failing.

"We will. Hunk we will."

They had to.

They wouldn't stop until they did.

The lions came into view, Pidge's had a particle barrier around it, keeping anything unwanted out as they usually were but there was something off about Blue. There was no particle barrier surrounding her. She was dark. Even the first time they had ever seen her it seemed like there was some kind of power on, her eyes always a bright yellow. There was no light. Her eyes were black, even her blue color seemed dull and Shiro didn't want to even think the word but she looked _lifeless_.

"What's wrong with her? Why does she look like that? What does that mean Shiro?" Hunk's voice steadily got higher as the panicked questions rolled off his tongue.

"Hunk. Our job is to get the lions to the ship okay? Let's focus here. We will figure it out later." Shiro said, trying his best not to make any assumptions.

Not the correlation between the brutal hit Lance took and the fact his lion looked the way it did. Focus. There was no time to think about that.

"Okay, but...Allura should know right? I mean, this has probably happened before right? Maybe it's just a really common occurrence that we just haven't seen yet? A loose wire? Maybe she's out of batteries? Do the lions have batteries?" Hunk rambled nervously, Shiro let him, he had already picked up a lion and was doing his job. Shiro didn't really have any words of comfort because he truly didn't know himself. He picked up Blue, she didn't show any signs of movement and it just worried him further. What had happened to her that she had no need for defending herself anymore with the particle barrier?

The only thought that occurred to him he immediately dismissed. Lance was okay. He had to be. And Shiro had to be strong for his team, had to direct them. Had to focus.

"I've got Pidge, we are on our way bac-." Keith's voice came through.

"Idiot. Stupid! Bastard! What was he thinking! How could he-! Why would he-!" Pidge's voice interrupted, it had been a steady stream of insults and unfinished sentences since Lance had been beamed up. Shiro had been shocked at Pidge swearing like a sailor but thought he'd restrict the reprimanding for later, if at all.

"Everyone try to calm down. Freaking out now is not going to help Lance. We have to move fast." He recounted, trying to clear the coms a bit of all the noise. There was radio silence as they flew, uncomfortable as everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Shiro hadn't heard much from Keith, comforting the team would have to wait. To his dismay he watched as the ship holding Lance became more distant.

They actually had to fly away from Lance's direction towards the castle.

"Coran?" Shiro asked, hoping there would be a change in results?.

"I still can't get through to track them, if they jump before we get a lock on them we will be in trouble." Coran's tone was serious, Shiro could hear beeping in the background as he was denied repeatedly access to track the ship. Without another word they docked their lions, Hunk and Pidge were out first shooting out of the lions and racing to the main deck. Shiro waited a few moments, waiting for Keith. He came out soon after, his eyes traveling up to Blue in alarm, Shiro didn't miss how he seemed to use the frame of his lion for a support briefly.

Keith looked shell shocked that much was for sure.

"Keith?" Shiro tried, softening his voice as much as he could.

The young man's face turned up for him and Shiro thought for a second he might break down right then and there but with a deep breath and a nod he seemed to steady himself and walk towards him. Shiro turned to walk to where the others were, letting a hand fall on Keith's shoulder as they went.

Shiro could see the sweat on Allura's forehead as she strained the ship to go faster and faster. To his surprise they actually seemed to be gaining on them. Good. Maybe something would go right here.

"If we cannot track the ship within the next few ticks I think it is best if you go to your lions and try to physically try to slow it down. It'll be risky, especially with all the reinforcements they have brought but it may be our last option..." Allura explained, receiving nods all around.

"This must be one of the newer ships, I've never seen tracking shields so advanced before." Coran said, not bothering to look up from his screens as he clicked away.

Pidge and Hunk were furiously typing away too, trying to find some kind of weak spot in the ship's defenses.

"No!" Allura's shout startled everyone, but once they all saw what she was yelling about all their hearts sank.

The ship ahead of them, a small wormhole appeared. Before another thought could be had it vanished through the purple haze, the wormhole blinking out too fast. The ship had jumped. There was nothing but black space left.

The ship that held Lance captive. The very type of Galra ship Shiro himself had been imprisoned on for far too long had disappeared.

And they had no way of tracking it.

The silence was deafening. Coran's hands dropped, Allura's shoulders sagged.

Shiro looked at the rest of the Voltron team, they were shocked, staring in disbelief at the screen ahead of them, thinking it was maybe just a glitch.

"I'm sorry." Coran's quiet voice struck true confirming their greatest fears.

Shiro watched as Pidge's face scrunched up in an effort not to cry, the tears dripping down anyway. Her lip shook and she bit down on it hard.

In only a few steps he was in front of her, kneeling down to see eye level with her in her chair.

"Pidge?" He whispered, trying not to draw attention to her.

"Why did he have to push me out of the way? Why would he do that? It should've been me. We can't even...why would he...such an idiot..." Pidge rubbed her hands into her eyes, she spoke loudly, uncaring of the emotions she was showing. Shiro knew she was a tough girl, only having seen her cry once over her family. This was painful for her, having someone sacrifice themselves for her so easily.

Shiro opened his arms a bit, offering a hug if she needed one. To his surprise there was no hesitation and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his chest as she fought back hiccups. He was stunned but returned the gesture, hands hopefully a comforting warmth on her back.

"An admirable trait, always putting ones friends safety above your own." Coran spoke again, and Shiro felt Pidge even nod against him.

Shiro just wished it didn't always have to be Lance.

Something shattered against the far wall startling everyone again, all heads turning to look at the small shattered glass ticker on the floor. It didn't take long to discover the source. Keith standing, chest heaving as he glared hard at the wall.

"Keith-" Shiro began.

"So what? So now we give up? We just let them take Lance? This is bullshit!" Keith yelled, now staring at everyone in the room. Shiro gently pulled Pidge's arms from himself, standing and turning to Keith, still keeping a comforting hand on Pidge's shoulder. She straightened, rubbing her face still but seeming to calm down a bit.

"Keith, we aren't giving up." Shiro tried to explain.

"How the hell are we supposed to save the fucking universe if we can't even protect one of our own!" Keith's shout echoed throughout the room. It was true. Shiro knew it was true. He hated that it was true. He fought for his face not to falter. The team, no matter what, no matter how many were, still needed a leader. Focus.

"We get him back, and show them we are a force to reckon with." Allura stated confidently.

"We can't even find them!" Keith hollered back, Shiro felt Pidge flinch under his hand. Alright, he had to get this situation under control somehow.

"Keith, I get you're frustrated. I get it. But fighting with each other isn't going to solve anything. We need to work together to solve this alright?" Shiro explained, tone calmer than he felt.

"Allura? Why is Blue down?" Hunk asked, voice quiet but no one spoke over him.

Allura looked pensive.

"I'm...not sure." She said.

"If a paladin died...would their lion die with them?"

Hunk asked the question all of them had been wondering but too scared to ask, now they all turned to Allura who seemed to shift under their gaze.

"There have been paladins who have...passed...before but no. In all other instances that I am aware of the lions did not 'power down' like this. I have reason to believe something else has happened. Of what, unfortunately I am not sure, I have not seen this before."

It wasn't much of a relief.

"But Lance could still be..." Keith began.

"Keith!" Shiro warned, he was about to go into another lecture when Keith exploded.

"What?! You didn't see his face! You didn't see how _happy_ he was Shiro! He was so relieved when I was there to catch him! And then...Shiro I heard the thud. It _echoed_ through my lion. It was so loud when Red's tail hit him. Shiro...how could anyone survive that? I'm trying to have faith but...you all heard him gasping for air...that impact...would have shattered bones Shiro." Keith trailed off, growing quiet as he gripped his head in his hands.

It was true it was all true. Shiro didn't want to think about it but it was entirely possible that what they had heard, what they had listened to could have been Lance's last breaths. If that was true then it would kill Shiro. He had to believe. Had to trust that the universe wouldn't be so cruel. He had to _focus._

"The lions work in mysterious ways." Allura started. "Maybe Blue knows something we don't."

Her words fell on deaf ears. They were lost. Without Lance the glue that holds the team together just wasn't there. He could feel the exhaustion emanating from everyone in the room. Everyone had dark circles under their eyes, it had been a tough week before all of this had even happened.

There was silence then. Too much. Too much like a silence for a fallen soldier. Shiro refused to believe that.

This was the last thing he wanted to do but...

"Everyone should go to their quarters and get some rest." He said, voice final. Keith didn't seem to get that memo though.

"We are going to take a nap while Lance is still out there?" Keith's tone was unbelieving.

"Keith, none of us have gotten a good nights rest in a long time. Tensions are high. We need to wind down, get some rest so we can put our full potential forward and not waste time. Being exhausted and sitting here is doing no good, with a little rest we could actually be able to think properly and help solve this problem." He knew he was right but he also knew he would also not be able to get any sleep. Not until Lance was back. Hopefully the others were so tired they would just pass out.

"There is not much to do at this point. Coran and I will try to track them down from whatever residues remain, it will take time to see if it is possible." Allura reassured them, solidifying Shiro's point.

Hunk and Pidge got up reluctantly, following his orders, dragging their feet as they made their way to the doors. Allura and Coran nodded to Shiro before beginning a silent conversation over the scanners. That left Keith.

With a gentle hand on Keith's back he guided him out of the room towards their quarters.

"I hurt him, Shiro. I was supposed to save him and I made it worse. What if he's...what if he..." Keith stared straight ahead. Shiro understood, it was such a cruel thing for Keith to have to experience. The torture of harming a fellow teammate, unintentionally or not it had been violent and left Keith shaken. Any of them would be in his position. Just watching it had left Shiro shaken.

"Keith. Blaming yourself isn't going to help. It wasn't your fault, you need to channel your energy into something constructive." Shiro moved his hand to Keith's shoulder, squeezing to solidify his point.

"Like what? Taking a nap? I get we are tired but I just feel like I'm letting him down...again."

"You didn't let him down, he knows that, I'm sure he does." Shiro insisted, pulling Keith to a stop in front of Keith's door. Keith's jaw was set hard, his face pinched.

"It's going to be okay Keith, we'll figure out a way, we always do." He continued, pulling the younger man into his arms for a hug. They didn't hug often but Keith really looked like he needed one, by the way Keith dug his fingers into Shiro's back he guessed he was right.

"Now try to get a few hours of sleep, I'll wake you up in four hours and we will solve this thing okay? I'll even wake you if there is news earlier okay?" Shiro said, gently pushing Keith towards his door, he went through with a small muttered thanks. Shiro truly hoped he managed to get a little bit of sleep.

Once the door was shut Shiro's shoulders drooped a bit, he rolled them, trying to get some of the tension out. Then headed straight for the kitchen, not bothering to check Hunk's room first, he knew where the big guy would be. Sure enough he was busy making something colorful, an apron wrapped around him as he busied himself.

Hunk glanced at Shiro as he entered then resumed taking something out of the oven. Shiro just sat down, not saying a word.

"It just calms me down, okay?" Hunk said eventually, placing what looked like purple cookies on a cooling rack down in front of Shiro, one of the only open spots on the whole counter.

"I know." Shiro said softly, watching in slight amazement at the other dishes Hunk had on the go, they seemed almost complete in such a short amount of time.

"Hey, can I eat one of these?" Shiro asked, pointing towards the purple cookies.

"Uh, sure...just be careful. They're probably still hot." Hunk replied, staring at Shiro oddly as he continued vigorously stirring the concoction he had in the bowl he was holding.

Shiro nodded, reaching down anyway. Taking a cookie, it was still hot but he took a bite anyway. It was delicious, it had flavors reminiscent of honey with a bit of a tang at the end.

"These are really good." Shiro smiled lightly, taking another bite.

"Yeah...Lance really likes them. Says they are like his Mom's cookies...well he said they were like his Mom's cookies and an orange had a baby or something like that. These...these are all Lance's favorites..." Hunk muttered gesturing to the pilling amount of food he was making.

Shiro frowned at that, taking note of all the careful details Hunk was putting into the food, almost as if Lance was still there.

"I just...I just can't believe he's gone and yeah I know he's not 'gone gone' but he's not here you know? This shouldn't have happened, not with all of us there. My best friend Shiro...my best friend was stolen right in front of me and I couldn't do anything. And now I'm here cooking, like that makes any sense, while he's prisoner in a Galra prison _at best_." With a lip quiver tears started to pour out, before Shiro could even offer a hug, he seemed to be giving them out a lot today, he was wrapped up in Hunk's warmth. It was awkward, still half sitting in the chair but Shiro did his best to pat Hunk on the back.

The whole team was a mess.

It took a few minutes of sniffling for Hunk to simmer down, wiping the mass amount of tears and snot from his face when he pulled away but Shiro didn't mind.

"Hunk, I know this is what you do to calm yourself, and that's great but I think you need to rest for a bit. Everything seems a bit better when you feel a bit more rested."

"I know. I know. I'm dead on my feet and I can't think about anything but Lance. But when I try to sleep how is that going to be any different?" Hunk whined, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Shiro didn't have much of a response to that.

"Once you lie down I think you'll manage to sleep, I'll wake you in four hours okay?"

There was a small nod, a watery thank you and Hunk left the kitchen in an explosive mess. Shiro didn't care.

Two down, one to go.

He grabbed a handful of purple cookies on his way out.

There wasn't any light coming from Pidge's room but Shiro knew better than that. He knocked gently, not getting any response.

"Pidge, open up." He stated, loud enough to travel through the door.

There was a sigh and the door swung open. Just as he thought, all her electronics were up and running, a laptop open on her bed connected to lots of smaller machines that did who knew what but the main lights of the room shut off. Pidge sat back down and started typing away on her laptop, fingers becoming blurs. Shiro placed the cookies down on a small table near her so she could reach them. She glanced at them but didn't make a move to grab them.

"Pidge, you should really get some sleep." He began,.

"You and I both know that's not going to happen." Pidge stated simply. Final, not looking at him and continuing her clicking away.

Shiro sighed, rubbing his own eyes now. He was supposed to take care of the team and he was trying to but sometimes it was hard, especially in this kind of a situation.

"Listen, if it makes you feel any better if I don't get any leeway in the next hour I will have a nap. Okay?" Her voice was softer this time and he peeked out at her from behind the hand that was rubbing his eyes. She was looking up at him, nibbling on one of the cookies.

"Okay, well I'll be back in four hours, so please try to get some sleep. You're brain needs rest too you know." Shiro gave her a small smile, she returned a nod and he turned to leave.

"Thanks for the cookies. Get some rest too, Shiro." She said, he made an affirmative sound but he knew he'd be unable to sleep.

It felt like a long walk back to his room, his feet were heavier than usual. Once he entered his room it felt darker than he remembered, it felt colder. Everyone was in bed for the night, every member of his younger team was as okay as they could be for the next four hours. Shiro sat down on his bed.

There he thought about every memory that had tortured his mind, every flash of terrible pain that he recalled from his time when he was in the hands of the Galra. Every dark night he curled up in his cell alone, hoping somehow someway he'd be rescued but knowing the hopeless truth. The pain of having his mind invaded by Haggar. Fighting with everything he had just to survive to the next day but ending up hurting and cold in his cell by night.

Then he pictured Lance right there, right in the middle of it.

For the first time in a long time Shiro put his face in his hands and cried.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm an awful person for making Shiro cry.  
> But he needs a good cry.  
> And everything good in life too.  
> But first. Cry  
> Thank you for reading!  
> Comments give me life! <3


	6. Vrepit Blah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the lovely comments and kudos! I really appreciate it! Enjoy!

If Lance didn't know any better he would think that the witch didn't even know she was Altean, which was totally a weird thing to forget.  Her hands were tightly gripping into her cloaked head and Lance knew that face she was making. It was all too familiar. It was the face Hunk made whenever he was about to barf. Lance had a sharp eye out for that face at all times, saved himself from getting new shoes every week.

No sympathy from Lance here though, no way. He was angry more than anything. She was Altean! She betrayed her own people. Allura's people! How could someone turn on their entire planet? How could someone be so heartless?

"So what? Zarkon offer you some barrels of nunvil and you just decided to join the side that _destroyed your home planet?_ I dunno, that would seem like kind of a deal breaker to me."  He said, peering over to her with disdain.

"Silence!"

There, finally a direct acknowledgement. She was still obviously freaking out but at this point Lance didn't care. He was so done with all these bad guys and their stupid reasons and their _Vrepit Blah._

"Silence? Isn't there enough of that going on here? Your _leader_ Zarkon does plenty enough for everyone. Silenced your _whole_ _planet_ but you didn't seem to care! Hell, you even joined him!" Lance seethed, here Allura was fighting to get justice for her planet, her people, and here were some survivors joining the dark side that started it all. The Altean's deserved better than that, Allura deserved better than that.

They should be helping her. Dammit.

"Why is it that traitors like you survive, and the good that could make a difference die?"

That set her off, she screamed, voice grating and desperate to his ears, throwing her arms out and Lance watched in startled amazement as light flashed from her fingertips, lighting up the already lit room, flashing and blinding him as they spread out from her in an ominous wave.  There was no getting away strapped to the table, he didn't think he could've dodged it even if he wasn't.  Soon as it licked his skin Lance fell back into his mind, eyes snapping back,  too quick, felt like he was pulled in too rapidly, leaving his stomach lurching in his wake.

He was assaulted with his own memories. Too many all at once,  each memory reminding him of a pain he'd like to forget. They swirled like clouds around him, suffocating him, poking and prodding him with reliving memories in agonizing clarity. He felt sick, the memories renewed  feelings he'd been trying to avoid, the pain dug in and lingered in his heart . It hurt, it ached, he couldn't breathe. Someone had to make it _stop_.

Make it stop!

His grandfather dying. Cancer. Crying in the seat beside him.

Bullies at school, shoved him in a locker, too weak to fight back.

Breaking his arm when one of them shoved him down. Telling his Mom he had fallen out of a tree. Seeing her disappointed look at his lies.

_Too weak._

Not being able to afford pilot school.

Being ashamed of that fact. Ashamed of who he was. Ashamed of being ashamed about it.

Even with a scholarship he wasn't smart enough for pilot class.

Trying and failing to show he was as good as Keith, the best pilot there.

Not getting into pilot class until Keith dropped out.

Getting yelled at for being incompetent.

So _incompetent_.

Too many memories. His family.

God, he missed them horribly.

 _Alone_.

There was too much.

Sitting alone in his room in the palace ship.

 It was too silent here.

 _Lonely_.

He was drowning.

Being the only Voltron member without a thing.

 What did he even do for the team?

He was just useless.

He was dying.

Useless.

No breath in his lungs.

Useless _._

He couldn't do this.

_Useless._

Just let him _die._

Yellow eyes and the comfort of the cold darkness.

\--------

"No. No. No. Come on now. Come on. Lance? Come on Lance! Wake up now! Don't do this to me! Dammit, you're supposed to be rescuing me aren't you? You can't do that if you're dead you idiot!"

A slap across his face bloomed new pain, splitting into his mind, cracking and pulling until it was open and raw and his eyes followed only to see the dark ceiling. It too seemed to spin in his eyes. His head was pounding, his face joining unwelcome to the party.

Lance's thoughts still swirled, insecurities mixing in with memories, flashing too fast. It was going to explode. His head was going to explode.

But it was edging away in the reminisce of cool comfort, the memories less sharp, more dull and easier to evade.

He clutched at his head, curling up in hopes to relieve the pressure in his skull.

What had she done to him? His thoughts weren't his own, they came uninvited and unwelcome. He sucked in breathes, trying to calm himself somehow. This was only just borderline bearable. It wasn't as bad as it initially was but slightly better than wanting to die wasn't really much to be happy about.

"Lance, thank god, talk to me. Please, talk to me."

Matt. Yeah, right, he was back in his cell. Matt was there. Lance squinted up at him, vision still swimming.

"Ugh." Was all he managed before curling up tighter on his side, clutching his hair in his hands, he felt his nails digging in. It was too much. Too much. He couldn't. He just wanted silence.

"What did they do to you?" It was calmer now, laced with guilt.

"Dunno...freaky witch..." Lance managed, trying his best to ignore the surfacing memories everything wrong with him, every doubt that was being forced into his mind. He tried massaging the sides of his head in vain.

"She did something to your head?" Mat asked, he sounded scared.

Witchcraft on your brain was not ideal, Lance agreed. He made an affirmative noise, grinding his teeth as more memories scrapped across the forefront of his mind. It was slowing down he had to remind himself. This was coming to an end it would end soon. It had to.

But the thoughts were still there as of now.

Even little things, messing up small things were all combined and played out for him. There was so many of them, he messed up a lot.

He had to remember the good things. Good things about himself.

Like...

Ugh, his brain was too full to think. What was there?

Was there even anything?

"Did they lock you up in a freezer or something?"

That got his attention. A freezer? What was Matt talking about now? He peeked up at Matt again just realizing now that Matt hadn't been touching him, usually he always had a comforting hand on him but now Matt's hands seemed to hover above him unsure.  Lance glanced down and was startled by the thin layer of ice that had covered his body. It glinted in the dull light like frost on a window.

"Ah!" He jolted, he was not expecting that.

The ice was cool but not uncomfortably cold, refreshing on the bruised parts of his skin. It was thin, more like a frost than anything. How had he not noticed that? It was melting away in some places now.

"Uh...no. I wasn't in a freezer. What the heck is happening?" Lance muttered,  sitting up slowly, wincing at his sore body and brushing the ice away off his arms, watching as it flaked off easily. He leaned heavily against the wall, the ice was soothing on his chest so he left it there, the cold dulling the throbbing that had never really gone away.

Had they put him in a freezer after he was unconscious or something? It didn't feel like he was out for that long and he didn't feel that cold.

Was it just a coincidence it was ice and he was the paladin of the lion with ice powers? Was something funky going on here? Did he have some kind of awesome ice powers? Was he unknowingly a superhero? That would be pretty awesome timing, almost too perfect but Lance would take anything at this point.

His hands soon returned to his head as another wave of incoming thoughts invaded. He felt nauseous, a hand placed on his back for comfort, feeling uncomfortably hot.

"I couldn't even touch you when they first put you back in here. I lost a layer of skin when I touched yours directly, I could've gotten frost bite if I didn't take my hand away fast enough. I...I thought you were dead. I..." Matt faltered, staring down at the floor.

Lance understood, he had scared him. Whatever had happened to him.

In only a short amount of time they had come to rely on each other, he couldn't leave Matt yet, he had to find a way out of this no matter how useless he was.

No. He wasn't useless. He'd find a way out.

Matt sat down against the wall beside him, Lance leaned a bit, pushing his shoulder against Matt's and sighed, he was tired, even though most of his time he was passed out. Matt's head fell onto his shoulder and it sent a pang through Lance's heart.

Pidge wasn't touchy feely, but he had a feeling that if she had been captured and put through the same things Matt had she'd crave human comfort too.  Plus, Matt had been alone for a week in this cell. Lance shuddered at the thought of that.

Lance was happy to be there for Matt, able to supply a shoulder to lean on at the very least. It didn't feel like enough but he hoped it was consoling in some way for Matt.

Lance messed his face up, his head was _killing_ him.

"Sorry for scaring you like that." Lance said, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"No, not your fault. Once I saw you were...thawing out...I thought maybe you'd come back somehow. Thankfully you did, but Lance, you were practically frozen solid. How could you survive that kind of thing? Maybe the headache is from being frozen solid?"

"No...I don't think so." Lance responded, he'd never seen a witch use ice magic like that before. She'd assaulted his mind somehow but ice...ice was Blue's thing.

The yellow eyes jumped to the forefront of his mind.

There had been yellow eyes.

So familiar, comforting in their cool touch. Protecting.

Blue.

Blue was there.

Somewhere. Reaching out to him.

"Blue?" Lance asked, closing his eyes and focusing. There was no definitive response, instead a familiar sense of cool comfort waved over him, he could've sworn he felt a gentle rumble resembling a purr as well.

"Lance? What are you saying?" Matt's voice interrupted his thoughts, a concerned face coming into his view, warmth disappearing from his shoulder.

"S'fine! My uh...my lion is like...in my head or something..." Lance muttered, trying to focus back on her 'voice'. He probably seemed pretty crazy, he could hear Matt muttering something about brain frost bite.

 Blue didn't really talk, it was usually more of a feeling, some crazy kind of alien telepathy but without human words.

She fed him thoughts more like, and he could feel her now, sitting in the far back of his mind. Blue was usually a huge presence in his mind but now she seemed tired, smaller, retreated into the darkness like she was hiding. There was a steady supply of energy coming from her though, now that he was aware of it he could feel it spreading in his veins, swirling in his chest. Ugh his chest.

There was worry emanating from her in soft waves, she was worried, worse than he'd ever felt before. Feelings of concern floated to him, easing into his mind to replace the memories that fought against his psyche. Had she been trying to help him this whole time? Had she been easing his pain from the beginning?

He did not want to think about what it would be like if she wasn't there.

Would he even be alive? He could feel his broken ribs, it was plain as day just by looking at his chest he should have some serious internal bleeding. He probably wouldn't have lived as long as he had without some kind of divine intervention.

Was Blue keeping him alive?

The feelings of guilt was enough of a confirmation.

"Shit." Lance muttered, ignoring Matt's further confused questions.

Blue's energy wouldn't last forever.

Once it ran out of time...so did Lance.

Okay, well...

No pressure.

Let the countdown begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp...there ya go. Until next time.  
> Don't forget to drop a comment or kudos, much appreciated, they are cookies to me guys. And I lurv me cookiez. Feed meh.  
> Thanks for reading! <3


	7. Something In Your Eye There Bud?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shhhh.....I didn't update forever I know shhhh it's okay it'll be okay....#life
> 
> Sorry, but here ya'll go! Hope you enjoy again!

* * *

Lance hadn't really even gotten a chance to relax, or even explain much of anything of his impending doom to Matt before the door was slammed open. Light flooded the room and Lance winced as it sent new waves of throbbing through his eyes and into his brain, the voices still whispering in the back of his head. His heart leapt into his throat, he couldn't be taken to the witch again, he just couldn't go through anything like that again. He didn't have the strength for that, he didn't think Blue did either.

His mouth moved for him, he was thankful for that, he had to at least look like he could remain strong in front of Matt. The longer he could maintain this facade the better.

"Come on! A little warning knock would go a long way you know!" He shielded his eyes, briefly glimpsing the familiar purple fur of yet another unfamiliar Galra soldier, two others bringing up the rear.

Or. Maybe not. This one's outfit was a little fancier. Good for him, working his way up in the shitty Galra industry of torturing and killing. Kudos.

Oh well. They all kind of blended into one big mean purple fuzz balls after a while.

"What do you want now? I'm not really in the mood for another round of the game 'brain exploration', at least buy me dinner first. Speaking of which, when the hell are you gonna feed -"

The hand around his neck was expected, though he thought that the whole lifting him up and slamming him into the wall was a _little_ unnecessary. His words were cut off with a yelp before he was scrambling for purchase to relieve some of the strain on his neck, pulling at the hands as he tried to get a breath in.

"Lance!"

There's Matt right on cue, literally trying to push the huge Galra guy away from Lance like it was the obvious thing to do. Stand up to the alien monster that was literally twice his size. He had to give him props for guts, or stupidity, both maybe.  Lance's anxiety skyrocketed as soon as Matt gave the Galra a pretty huge shove, enough to make the guy actually shift by like a centimeter. Minuscule but it was enough for the draw the Galra's attention as he seemed to just notice Matt now. Lance was already flailing before the large hand raised, landing kick after useless kick to the massive body, trying to reach out and grab that arm to stop him before Matt was viciously backhanded and sent sprawling to the floor. The image too similar to what it would look like if Pidge were in his position.

Lance saw red. The sounds coming out of his constricted throat were savage and enraged and he reached out to claw at the yellow eyes that rolled back to him, disinterested in Matt now that he remained still on the ground.

How dare he! How _dare_ he!

Lance would kill him! He would kill this stupid purple alien for laying a hand on Pidge's brother!  He had hit him so hard, Matt wasn't getting up. He wasn't _getting up!_

He used the adrenaline boost to its full potential, scraping the purple arm that held him, pulling at the fur, ripping it out in chunks.

Bastard was at least not gonna have any hair on his arms by the time he was done with him, just wait till he got a hold of the rest of him.

"I suggest you do no further harm, Ratak."

Lance knew that voice, only now Lance noticed the Altean witch was standing in the light of the doorway, between the two remaining lurking masses of Galra muscle.

There was no response, just a slow turn of the main Galra's head towards her.

"He has quite the defense mechanism." She stated simply, holding her hands up to show him.

They were black and unnatural, they kind of looked like they were frost bitten. Lance had seen that before on TV, and those hands looked like they were severely frost bitten.

Did he do that? How in the hell did he-

He was dropped abruptly, crumpling to the floor as legs didn't expect the sudden weight. His lungs pulling in air, his chest pounding and stinging as he tried not to move but his body was automatically heaving for air.

"You were damaged...by this vermin?"

Finally Lance heard the Galra's voice, so deep it just sounded like a rumble and so condescending that if was directed at anyone else he might have actually felt sorry for them.

"He has an affinity for magic, possibly due to his distant Altean ancestry. I believe his lion established some kind of strong telepathic bond with him, keeping him  from perishing by supplying quintessence but also granting some interesting side effects."

Uh, what was that?

Did she just say Altean ancestry? He was Altean now? He could use magic? Since when did that happen? Wait, supplying quintessence?  

All he got was a more questions the longer he thought.

"So you're saying that questioning him is out of the question?" He growled, the witch didn't flinch or anything, just stood her ground and nodded. Lance winced, rubbing his throat, _questioning_? Just be honest and say _torturing_.

"The Galra do not fear death."

"Then by all means, be my guest. A particularly bad episode could have the potential to  stall this ship, however."

"So what your saying is he's both dangerous to the well being of the ship as well as useless to us. What should stop me from sending him out an airlock?"

Lance shakily got to his feet, using on arm for support on the wall behind him, slowly as to not alarm the two having a stupid ass conversation about what to do with him in front of him like he wasn't even there. How about just leave him alone? Or feed him? He was hungry dammit. He took unsteady steps towards Matt.

"Any captured members of Voltron are to be taken to Zarkon. I'm sure Zarkon would be interested in how this blue one achieved such a strong bond with his lion."

So not helping here witch. He'd like to not be taken to Zarkon, thanks.

"I could always torture the little one...they seem to know each other."

Lance's heart stalls for a moment, they'd have to go through him first. He gritted his teeth, not that it would be a difficult feat for them as he was now...hell, they could take him at full strength. Not without a weapon...even then...

"I'm afraid that would possibly evoke his powers as well."

Maybe the witch wasn't so bad. Or the more likely reason of trying to safe her own skin. Still evil. Do not trust evil witches. Survivability 101 right there.

"I run this ship, I do not take orders from the likes of you."

Oh, so this was the big head honcho?  What was his name again? Ratal? Rattata? Rattatouli? Ratman?

Ratman was nice. Like a shitty version of Batman.

There was an awkward silence, Lance took the chance and pushed off the wall, taking the two steps to where Matt had fallen. He let himself fall to his knees and put a shaky hand on Matt's head, almost scared to touch him. He felt eyes boring into his back, Lance knew it was never wise to turn his back to the enemy but he just couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. As soon as his hand landed on the orange mop of hair Matt flinched, murmuring something in his sleep and Lance let the small wave of relief wash over him.

"Separate them."

"What? No!" Lance was back on his feet before the two guards fully entered the room. He cursed the fact that he felt such a strong need to check on Matt, he had shown weakness in front of them, of course they'd take advantage of that any way they could. He had been a fool.

"Stand back Paladin, you'll only make it worse for yourself." The leader stepped towards him but Lance stood his ground, puffing out his chest too, raising fists as if he had a chance in hell of fighting his way out.

"Back off! I'll...I'll freeze you all! You'll be furry purple ice cubes if you come any closer!" Lance was proud to see the other two guards approaching slow their steps, looking to their leader for confirmation. Lance felt in his heart however that this time it was fully a bluff. Blue was letting out waves of frustration and worry even now, she couldn't help. Not this time, unless she cut some out of the pool that was keeping him  alive.

But the Galra didn't know that.

"Back! Get out!" Lance waved his hands widely, moving on pure adrenaline now.

Till it all went downhill.

"You think I fear you? Little blue one?" The leader growled raising his hand once again. Lance stepped over Matt's body defensively, defiantly.

He never stood a chance, he knew that all along but the strong hand to his face still somehow came as a surprise. It sent him stumbling backwards on weak legs, crashing to the floor, barely able to throw his hands out behind him to catch himself.

He saw hands pulling on Matt, dragging him towards the door and he launched himself back at the Galra, hands trying to pry theirs away from Matt.

A shove with a boot sent him hurtling into the corner of the room, his hands finding purchase on the frame of the toilet there. For a second it was almost convenient since it felt like Lance had to hurl.

Then he saw a glint of something wedged between the toilet and the wall. Squinting blurry vision away he realized with a jolt that it was the broken handle that Matt had stashed earlier.

He didn't think, just grabbed it and threw himself at the leader letting loose a war cry that would've made even Keith proud. He was caught around the waist in one hand, held in the air with apparent ease, the other two Galra behind even letting out an amused chuckle.

That was until Lance brought his hand forward and with strength and speed he knew he didn't have left rammed the handle directly into one of the ugly yellow eyes glaring at him.

He caught a quick glance of blood pouring out from between purple fingers before a rage filled yell filled the room and Lance was thrown harshly into the ground with enough force he actually bounced off the hard floor, head connecting with the ground and leaving Lance stunned again. He was so getting tired of that.

Before his eyes could refocus again a foot came down on his right arm, the bone splintering easily under the impact. Lance sucked air in harshly, unable to even scream from the shock of it all, the sound so distressing to hear alone his eyes were watering before the pain even came.

When the pain did come he was holding back whimpers and moans that forced their way out anyway. It was too hot and too cold, the floor was so unforgiving and he longed for his team now more than ever.

The sounds of shouting barely registered in his mind as he writhed on the floor, finally getting a glimpse of his arm broken in a horrible angle.

How would he shoot with that? Could they heal that back to the way it was originally?

Would he be the same?

The pain fought him for his consciousness, his eyes threatening to roll back and his mind inviting him with nothingness but something nagged at him instead. He had to stay conscious.

Another hand grabbed him, pushing him against the wall yet again.

"I believe the term 'An eye for an eye' applies here." Lance flinched away from the hand now reaching for his face. No. No this couldn't be happening. Not his eyes. No.

"Sir. I will report this directly to Zarkon if you further harm him." The witch threatened voice cold, closer to him now than Lance remembered her being.

The grip around him tightened in annoyance, fingers tightened on his neck, nails cutting into skin and cutting off air. Lance let out a weak kick in response, his energy all too spent.

Then there was a chuckle. A weird chuckle that raised the hair on the back of Lance's neck.

"Very well, you want to fight so bad? Fine, I'll give you the chance to fight. I'd love to see your little so called defense mechanism in action, since you failed to show me now. Perhaps if it impresses me I'll allow you to fight for the Empire."

"Sir. The boy cannot fight in his condition."

"This vermin has wounded my pride, I will have my revenge, Zarkon would understand. Plus, this way he can fairly fight for his own life, Zarkon does not require weak paladins. We arrive tomorrow, I suggest you rest up.  The Arena awaits you."

Then the hand was gone and Lance slide back onto the unforgiving floor. Lance lied there on his side for a moment unable to move, the word 'Arena' bouncing around in his head with deadly finality as he stared blankly at the wall. Reality coming back when Matt's voice shouted his name.

They were dragging him out. Matt was awake and they were dragging him away.

No.

Lance couldn't get up, his limbs shaking too much but that didn't stop him from crawling, dragging himself against the grimy floor, broken arm uselessly dragging by his side, struggling and reaching his one arm out in desperation to reach Matt.

Matt was fighting, arms held strong in the hands dragging him away, face full of wide eyes and panic. They were moving too fast to the door.

"Matt! Please! No! Please don't take him! Matt!" Lance yelled, voice cracking in desperation but they paid him no heed. The door slammed shut and left him in the darkness alone.

Lance stared at it in shock. They had taken Matt. He was gone. They had left him there alone. His hand fell to the ground, gripping into the grime in frustration. Tears stung at his eyes and he pushed his forehead into the floor.

He had let Matt down. Pidge down.

He couldn't protect him, couldn't even keep him in the same prison cell. He let the tears run down his face now, finally some kind of release to all the pent up emotions and pain that had been a nonstop torrent of abuse. Lance curled protectively around his arm, it would shoot tendrils of pain up his arm and into his shoulder with each one of his heartbeats.

There was no relief though as he bit his lip, watching the tears absorb into the dirt on the ground. Crying didn't fix anything. Didn't make him feel better. Didn't bring Matt back or come up with an escape plan.

Nor did it bring his team here any faster.

But he did it anyway. Uselessly.

Because he himself was truly useless.

He could feel his energy leaving him. Feel the panic from Blue, could actually feel her in his mind moving frantically.

But he was too tired.

Too hurt.

Too alone.

Too useless.

His eyes fluttered shut.

 _Useless_.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #cliffhanger
> 
> Am I right?
> 
> *sweats nervously*
> 
> How bout that new season eh?
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading, drop a review please if you'd like, they are my crack. If I did crack.
> 
> Don't do drugs kids.


	8. When It All Comes To Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Hide's behind couch* What do you mean I haven't updated in a while, I have no idea what you're talking about. You gotta read this with sad music playing for full effect :)  
> ENJOY!

* * *

 

Shiro stared up at the roof for two hours, his mind switching between running a million miles an hour and circling around and around the same question without answers. How do you track an intergalactic ship that doesn't want to be tracked?

Sleep wouldn't come, and he knew that if it did it would just be reruns of his old nightmares but with one new feature: Lance in the thick of it all.

He'd honestly rather take his place then subject someone as bright, as vibrant as Lance, to something like that. Maybe with some kind of stroke of luck he'd be treated well, a gift to Zarkon perhaps, as much as that sent an uncomfortable feeling up his spine Shiro knew that if that was the case then it would at least buy them some time. Hopefully enough time to somehow track an untraceable ship and intercept them, break through their defenses and get Lance back unharmed. Well, at least not more harmed then the last time they had seen him.

That whole plan seemed a bit too optimistic but Shiro couldn't help but hope, pray, something he hadn't done for a long time, for it to all work out somehow.

He'd already been up once, walking around the ship, eventually finding his way back to the bridge, where he stood in the doorway as Allura communicated with any nearby planets not currently under Galra rule to see if they had spotted the ship, anything on their radar.

From the look on her face when she spotted Shiro he could tell it wasn't going well and it just made his shoulders feel heavier.

Coran looked just as frustrated, looking at something on a hologram screen, things Shiro could barely follow about a technology that most humans couldn't comprehend yet. With the exceptions of a few, like Pidge and Hunk.

He left, back to his room, having nothing to say to a situation that gave no leads. Optimism was hard to find, even as a leader, thrown into the role at a young age, into a war himself hadn't asked to be a part of. The others were younger and so Shiro felt responsible for them too, but sometimes the whole situation was too much. They looked to him for support, for answers he didn't have.

He had one solution. One that the team wouldn't agree to, but if it came down to it perhaps he'd go behind their back, take a shuttle pod and do it himself.

Offering himself to Zarkon in exchange for Lance's life.

It was a desperate move, not to mention Zarkon wasn't exactly trustworthy enough to hold up his part of the deal..but Shiro was beginning to feel that desperate. Maybe it was cowardly, but Shiro wouldn't want to fight without on of their own, or finish this war and go home to Earth, to explain to Lance's family, his massive family, about how their son was taken, how he wasn't good enough. Wasn't good enough to keep their son alive, his own age be damned, he was their leader. He was supposed to keep them all safe and he'd rather die than sit back and allow one of them to.

If Lance was alive, if Shiro had the choice, then he'd take it.

* * *

Lance wasn't sure how long he had been passed out for but it hadn't been long before he felt hands on him again. They weren't familiar and in that way they weren't comforting and his effort to move away was thwarted by a rather gentle grip on his good arm and a hush to be quiet.

He cracked his eyes open, no energy to even lift his head, and glared at whoever it was. If he wanted to whine he could whine as much as he wanted to, his arm was broken and he was pretty sure he was dying. The image of the Altean witch leaning over him came into view and he managed to flinch away a bit rougher, the grip on his arm tightening so he couldn't move away.

"W-Wha-?" His voice cracked in his dry throat and to his surprise she held a flask to his lips, her other hand leaving his arm and gently lifting his head so he could drink. He eyed her suspiciously for a moment, but there was something different in her eyes, something pleading with him and it relaxed him a bit. Plus, if they wanted him to die, poison or not...they only had to wait.

The thought probably should have alarmed him more than it did, dying, but he was just so _tired_ he couldn't think straight.

It was water, stale tasting but he didn't care, he drank the whole thing.

"We don't have much time, if you are left like this you'll die before we even reach the Arena." She spoke in a hushed tone, even sounding different then their last interaction. Her voice was gentler, softer like Allura's.  It gave him comfort it a weird way, even though she had tortured him not that long ago, it didn't even feel like the same person.

He didn't say anything back to her, just kind of stared back. Did she have a plan then? Cause Lance was all out of those at the moment. Was he trusting her at this point? Why would he? Maybe it was all a trick.

She helped prop him up against the wall, no, he wasn't quite trusting her yet, but she was at least being gentle which was more than what he'd been getting lately. He'd have to just see where this goes. Yet, when she placed one of her still blackened damaged hands against his chest and it started to glow Lance wasn't ready for _that_ and freaked out a bit. His own good hand coming up and wrapping around her wrist to weakly push it away.

She held steady, the glow increasing in intensity.

"Zarkon destroyed my home. My family. My love. Our entire culture wiped out without regard. And perhaps cruelest of all, my memories. For what is life without those memories, however painful... then you came in and unlocked them. Allowed me to see who I was again, it was just a little, but like a hole in a dam it broke and all my memories soon came back. Thank you, Paladin. Lance. I owe you everything for that." She stared at the ground, her face sad, unable to meet Lance's eyes until the last sentence. The tears brimming in her eyes broke his heart. All he could do is nod, acknowledging the thank you as she continued.

"Though I did not have my memories I did horrible things, and for that I'm truly sorry. I will not be able to atone for them in my lifetime, but I'd like to start with this." She said, nodding to her hands, still glowing.

"Alteans can share their quintessence. Although uncommon, and almost forbidden, since it shortens one's own life span significantly, it will slightly extend yours."

To that Lance's eyes finally widened in understanding of what she was doing.

She was trying to save his life, in turn shortening her own. His mouth opened to say something, protest even, no matter all the wrongs she had done it didn't feel right for someone else to shorten their life...to die for him. She seemed to feel his uncertainty and continued.

"It is kind that you worry for me, but I have lived far past my original lifespan. Extended through the use of quintessence. I am far older than I have wanted to be, and without a family, or a planet, a home I am okay with this sacrifice. I will give you all I have."

"All you have? So you'll die?" Lance found his voice, disbelieving at what she was saying.  To that she only nodded, making Lance's stomach drop.

"Phyllana. That's was my name...is my name, my Altean name. I hadn't remembered it until today. The man you saw in my head was my fiance, Tynslea, we were to be married soon. That was, before Zarkon destroyed everything and took some of us to turn into Druids for his army. He was a gentle soul, I was eager to start a family..."

Lance begun to feel that familiar cool feeling in his chest again, Blue's presence emerging once more in the back of his mind, the soft hum a comfort to where silence was before. It was hard to focus on those feelings as he realized with a start that the Druid in front of him, Phyllana has begun to cry, the tears slowly making their way down her cheeks as she continued to met his eyes. Now, in the yellow he could see remnants of pupils, hard to see but they were there.

"You have brought me back to myself, and for that I owe you my life. I cannot allow you to die, you, and your team must defeat Zarkon. You must return the Universe to peace. So families can live in peace, so no one goes through my situation again. You have a gift Lance, you have some distant Altean blood in your veins, enough to allow you to break through walls that have been built up in the minds of Druids. This is not a common gift so please I beg of you, though I have no right to ask, if you come upon any other Druids, please release my sisters from their prisons. Please."

That sent Lance into a bit of anxiety, that was a lot of pressure to ask of someone, especially someone who didn't know anything about magic.

"I don't know how to do that! Why don't you just give me a little quintessence and then sneak out of here with me? Allura, who flies the ship is Altean, and so is Coran. They'd love to meet you. Come with us." Lance said, suddenly realizing what he was asking. What would his team think if he brought a Druid back with him? They'd for sure think he was brain washed. But, with a start he realized he trusted her, he believed her, he felt for her.

"My role has been set, Paladin, I cannot leave this ship. In order to extend your life long enough for your team to find you I must give you it all. It is not an equal exchange, in order to give you a little of my quintessence it takes a large amount of my own to convert it to something compatible with your own system. It will not heal you, your injuries will remain. But it will allow your lion to maintain contact with you and supply her with enough quintessence to keep you alive for a time. I don't believe it will be enough for her to make another attack like the one she used on me, that uses too much quintessence and it will shorten your time." Phyllana said, eyes suddenly looking duller.

"But I still don't know how to help, I don't know how to do that mind thingy I did earlier! I just pushed back when you kept pushing me! And I'm not comfortable with you dying for me!' Lance said, voice starting to grow in volume, still quiet enough to not be overheard but enough to get out his frustration as he finally had enough strength to push her hands away.

"You will remember when the time comes, if you concentrate and 'push' as you stated before I'm sure you'll get it. It's like muscle memory, your mind knows how to do it, you just have to try." Phyllana sighed, looking down at her hands now.

"Even if that was all fine and dandy, I still don't want you to die. Even after everything that has happened, all you've done. Enough have died here from this stupid war already! I don't want to be the cause of another one, especially an Altean!" His hands were shaking. What would he tell Allura if he made it back to the ship at the expense of an Altean life? How could he look in her eyes? Or Coran's?

"Lance, I've made my decision. It is mine and mine alone to make." She stated, staring into his eyes yet, but he couldn't hold her gaze. His eyes flickered around the room in a near panic.

"B-but this whole situation wasn't your choice, you were forced to do all of these things, you can't, it's not right. This isn't fair. You shouldn't have to die." Lance struggled to try to convince her, they'd figure something else out.

"I want to."

The words finally brought his focus back to her. The words rung in his head, spoken so finally that all disputes died on his tongue. He couldn't convince her. He wouldn't be able to. She was done. She wanted to die. It was horrible. It was so horrible. Lance couldn't handle it. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want this situation. His breaths came quicker. Someone was going to die for him. Someone wanted to and if felt like the most selfish and most unselfish act he'd ever heard.

Unselfish because she was doing it so he could live.

But also selfish since, now Lance would have to live with that. Live with the fact that he was alive...because he let her die. He couldn't save her, he was _useless_. 

"Lance." Her voice spoke up, as she noticed his spiraling thoughts. "I know you can't understand that now, but I've lived for so long. Most of my people would have died by now. It is my time, it was my time long ago. I only wish for an end of something that was extended for so long without my permission. I wish to be with my family now, with Tynslea. All life must end, and I have been blessed with finally ending mine with a purpose, with my own choice, with something that I hope I can redeem at least some of my wrongdoings." She gripped his hand now and Lance stared down at the soft gesture with some kind of numbness.

He understood her point of view, at least he tried to, but it didn't make it less painful. More than that he knew he couldn't stop her anymore and he hated every minute of it but he didn't protest as her hand returned to his chest and the light continued to glow. Just closed his eyes in anguish.

He felt some of his energy return, felt Blue in his mind cooling his injuries so they were more bearable. The whole familiar feeling of _feeling_ again just made him feel sicker since he knew the price. The price was a life, of an innocent Altean who had just wanted to have a family. Time passed slowly and before he knew it she was drawing away. Her skin a now lifeless grey color, and her eyes a dull yellow, the irises actually visible now, they were blue, less vibrate than they were when Lance had seen her in her memory. The red lines on her cheeks had actually receded too, now a barely visible pink.

"I've fixed most of the damage that I caused to your psyche and earlier I notified the rebels of where and when we will be landing. They will attempt a rescue mission, disguised as a hostile takeover of the Arena after our arrival, though their main purpose is to rescue as many prisoners as possible. You must remain alive until then paladin, please. I'm sorry this is all I can do." She said, looking down at him with concern as he stared back up at her in a daze.

For a moment they just looked at each other and then she moved to leave. She moved to leave his cell, and then what? Would she just go and die in a corner somewhere? All alone? The idea made Lance feel so sick, she couldn't stay, and he didn't want to watch her die, but it was all so wrong he couldn't handle it. Her face, it was still so sad.

He reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her from moving and he sucked in a deep breath.

"I'll do my best. Any Druids I see from now on I swear, I'll do everything I can to help them. I won't stop until I do. I'll make sure they are not in your position. I promise." He cried, tears suddenly streaming down his face at the unfairness of it all. "I'll save everyone I can, I'll save so many, I swear, I'll help save the Universe. I'll take this energy, this life you gave me and I'll use it to do these things, I'll repay your debt so you won't owe anything, anyone, for what you think you've done. So please, don't die sad. Your debts are already paid...please...don't..." Lance dissolved into sobs, unable to handle the situation anymore, hand dropping from hers to cover his face.

Then arms were around him in what felt like the first hug he'd gotten in a long time. The arms around him were cold but the hand on the back of his head was desperate and strong. He dropped his forehead to her shoulder as he struggled to gain control of himself again. His sobs coming out in a garbled mess of 'thank you's and 'I'm sorry's that mixed with her hushed tones and kindness that was almost making it worse since he knew. He knew she was dying, on the verge of death and still taking some of her precious last moments to comfort _him_. And it was for him.

It was all for him and he wished it wasn't.

"Thank you, paladin. Thank you, Lance. It's enough. It's enough. I trust in you. Thank you."

She sat there for a few more moments and when she pulled away with a kiss to his temple Lance wanted to stop her. He didn't want time to move and take her, he wanted her to meet Allura and Coran and smile again, and share her own memories of all the crazy crap Coran has told him about Altea. He held onto her hand as she stood and gently she let go with the first smile he's seen from her and simply walked out of the door. He watched her the whole way, the smile burned forever into his mind.

The door closed with a thud and left him alone. Leaving him alive.

And leaving him wondering why the hell he was so important in all of this, why his life was more important than hers in this situation, and how much he didn't agree with it all.

Knowing Phyllana was out there now, dying somewhere on the ship just killed him. He barely knew her but he felt this odd connection with her, maybe since he himself was part Altean and somehow they were distantly related. They were family. Distantly, but still family.

He felt Blue trying to comfort him, and he sent back acknowledgments, he was glad she was there with him, he was...but his shaking hands didn't stop. His tears didn't slow. Sleep didn't come.

How could he sleep knowing she was dying. He sat on the damp floor and cursed the situation that led to this. The war. His inability to get out of this prison on his own.

His chest throbbed loudly in time with his arm, but it was a pain that was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. His whole body was aching but it was dwarfed by heartache.

Lance wanted his team, wanted them to come rescue him now, wanted a soft bed. Wanted someone to hold him, wanted to be safe. Wanted all of this to be over.

At the same time a cowardly part of him didn't want to face Allura or Coran. Explain to them that he had found another Altean, something that on a normal circumstance would make their faces light up, and then, somehow he'd have to tell them that she had died. For him. She had suffered for so long to die in the ship that held her captive after finally getting her memories back. After finally being free of their control.

He sat there for a long time, head bowed, allowing his tears to drop into his hands, one still looking painful and swollen and the other one still cold from the touch of her hand.

He sat there in a miserable pool of his own grief until his door opened again, a hulking mass replacing where her silhouette once stood.

"We've arrived. Time to fight, Paladin."

 

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the whole...not updating for a long time thing, hopefully I can update more often now and get er done. Also, sometimes I like to do fun things with the names of characters...
> 
> Phyllana comes from the name greek name Philana which means-Lover of humankind
> 
> Tynslea comes from the old English name of Tinsley which means - Defender of the meadow.
> 
> Since, her important memory of him is in a meadow and all...
> 
> Don't forget to smash that kudos if you like it so far, and comment!!! Constructive criticism is welcome, lemme know if anything doesn't make sense.  
> ALSO I love comments! <3 thanks for reading!


	9. One Step Forward And Two Steps Back Into The Arena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Is supposed to be studying*  
> Who is with me?

* * *

 

When Shiro heard unholy screeching coming from down the hall he immediately suspected the worst, he sprung out of his bed, he hadn't been making any progress in his thought processes anyway and ran into the hall. Almost colliding with the green blur that was Pidge as she streaked by.

"It was so obvious! Why am I such an idiot! Hunk! Hunk!" She yelled, ignoring Shiro's confused presence as she banged on Hunk's door, just down the hall from his own.

"What's going on?" Keith piped in, running up to Shiro's side. Shiro could only shrug as he followed Pidge, Hunk opening his door finally. It looked like he was the only one that had found some kind of form of sleep, though the way he was rubbing dried tears from the corners of his eyes told him it hadn't been a pleasant one.

"What Pidge? What's up?" His voice picking up momentum when he saw the excited look on Pidge's face.

"It's so freaking obvious Hunk! Are we idiots now? When did that happen?" She continued, pacing back and forth in front of his room.

"Pidge! What do you got?" Hunk shouted now, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her lightly in excitement.

"The Galra fighter ships Hunk! They were flown by drones right? They are basically just flying computers and they have a homing  mechanism of some kind right? In order for them to get back to the main ship they must follow some kind of homing beacon, we just have to find that tracker in one of the ships that we shot down!" Pidge explained, gesturing wildly as she talked.

"Oh, my, god. We are idiots. That is so obvious." Hunk dropped his head into his hands for a moment.

"So we need to collect the ships we shot down? Hopefully one of them has this thing still intact inside?" Keith asked for clarification, already on his toes ready to finally _do something_.

"Yeah, basically. Though the device might have a limited range..." Pidge trailed off.

"To which we could totally amplify it with the Castle's energy supply, and with our brains, of course." Hunk chimed in,  smile already growing.

"Sounds like a plan to me, team, get to your lions. I'll inform Allura and Coran and join you outside to collect the drones. Once we collect all we can we'll find the device and try to enhance it, Hunk, Pidge, let us know how we can assist you there. Once it's up and running let's bring Lance home." Shiro said, turning to run with the rest of his team who were obviously eager to start doing something.

They had a plan now. Finally. They had put a foot forward to start bringing Lance home. Hopefully, with some luck, something would finally go their way.

* * *

Even with some of his energy returned, Lance's heart just wasn't up to his usual sarcastic remarks, or even  fighting back when a Galra soldier came in.

It was time to fight in the Arena. Like Shiro before him. That's where the rebels would hopefully bust him out and end this horrible nightmare. There was just one problem. One big problem.

"Where's Matt?" Lance's voice held strong, the grief he felt over Phyllana starting to morph into something akin to anger.

"Hands behind your back." The Galra ignored him, looming over him in a threatening manner.

"I know you all want a fight. But I swear, if you don't let me know where Matt is I'll just give up right away. Less fun for both of us, I'm sure." Lance bluffed, trying to stand tall. No way would he let himself be killed, especially after everything with Phyllana but hopefully he could get some kind of answer at least. He had to keep track of Matt so they could also rescue him too. He was not going back to the castleship without Matt.

"You're not in a position to demand answers." The Galra growled, grabbing Lance's arms and forcing them behind him. His broken arm screaming in protest as he let out a sharp cry. Immediately he felt Blue trying to soothe his pain but he was already sweating and panting by the time the Galra had wrapped restraints around his wrists.  They were like hand cuffs from Earth, except thicker more like manacles wrapped around his wrists with the all too familiar purple Galra glow.

Lance opened his mouth again to protest again but he was already getting manhandled out of his cell. The sharp pain shooting up his arm from the Galra's grip kept him walking without too much protest. Soon as he was out of his cell he saw other prisoners being collected from their cells. Big blob like aliens that made high pitched whistling with their movements. Beautiful humanoid aliens that had gold skin that sparkled like nothing Lance had ever seen. But one in particular caught his eye immediately.

Matt.

Who was frantically looking around for him it seemed.

"Matt!" Lance shouted, relief at seeing him okay.

"Silence!" The Galra spat, swatting the back of his head with enough force to send  him stumbling forwards, the soldier actually releasing him so he'd fall. He landed on his chest, unable to catch himself the impact knocked the air out of him. His face, his nose specifically bouncing off the hard floor. He struggled to get air back into his lungs, having to breathe through his mouth as blood flowed from his nose, the pain overpowering Blue's attempt at soothing him. Lance rolled to his side and curled up in a ball, coughing and sputtering, hearing Matt's upset shouts in the distance get silenced too. Lance spit out a mouthful of blood that gathered in his mouth as he glared back up at the soldier. He was getting real tired of this kind of thing, but soon he'd be out of here.

"Lucky you, you found out your buddy is going to the Arena too. Now you can die together." The Galra chuckled, grabbing onto Lance's wrists again and hauling him up to his feet.

Lance's arm had still been broken at an odd angle up until then, the cuffs pulling at an awkward angle but with the uncaring movements of the soldier he felt the bones crack and shift back towards their original position. He wasn't sure if they were actually put back right into place or not, since the pain had been too much and his vision went black. He actually felt his body go limp in the Galra's grip and the one words he heard muttered under the Galra's breath.

"Weakling."

* * *

It was taking way longer than Shiro expected to collect the ships. Most of them had exploded on impact and Keith and Shiro ended up bringing whatever larger pieces that remained back to the ship where Pidge would inspect them. They had sent Hunk nearby to inspect a particularly bad wreckage, pieces everywhere, so he could look himself for what they needed. It seemed like he fastest way of doing things, the most efficient way of finding the homing device they needed but nothing had turned up yet.

Halfway through the whole thing the native's to the planet showed up, complaining about the state of their forest. Shiro had tried to explain to them that it had been a Galra attack but they continued to be upset, insisting that they bring them the piece of Neita as promised.

That was around the time when Allura grew about 5 feet and raised her voice over the Gheti chief. Something that both inspired and also terrified Shiro. Though somehow she still managed to sound professional and diplomatic as she kindly told the Gheti chief to screw off, she had bigger problems and she'd get their stupid rock later.

Obviously not what she actually said but that was what Shiro got from it. Once that problem was done he sent her a kind smile and got one in return and they returned to their work.

But that whole ordeal had wasted time.

And they still hadn't found the stupid device that may or may not even exist at this point. They might all even have a self destruct mechanism for all they knew. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

And they needed that needle to save Lance and Shiro had a feeling they were running out of time.

* * *

 

Lance woke up groggy as the seat under him shook and rattled. He groaned out of his unconscious slumber and he was looking forward to finally sleeping like a normal person once rescued, instead of just passing out over and over again.

"You awake?" The familiar voice of Matt reached his ears.

Lance realized he was slumped over in his seat, his head rolling against Matt's shoulder. How nice of them to sit them together. How kind the Galra are. He could feel the dried blood on his nose, a slow trickle was still coming out but he assumed it had mostly run its course. Though now it was itchy and he could feel it on his chest now too where it had dripped down.

"Ugh, yeah I'm awake. How are you?" Lance said, lifting his own head up. His arm still pulsating with his heartbeat and painful so he focused his attention on Matt now.

An impressive bruise was forming on the side of Matt's face and from the concern reflecting back at him Lance knew he didn't look so hot either. Lance's question got a scoff of amusement out of Matt.

"Oh, I'm just great. Just ready to go back to the place of my nightmares, the Arena, where everyone dies unless Shiro is there to beat all the big baddies. But oh look, he's not, and no offense but you look dead on your feet."

Lance winced at the choice of words.

"Seriously Lance, you looked really bad when they dragged me out of our cell earlier, and now you look even worse than that. Are you okay?" Matt's eyes, such a nice soft light brown like Pidge's looking at him worried.

The question made a lump form in his throat. Sure, _he_ was okay. For now. At what cost though?

"I'm okay as I can be." Lance decided on, frown tugging at his face as he glanced around. They were in a shuttle, descending onto a planet from the Galra ship they had been on. They were landing on to the planet that held the Arena. Great.

Something that Lance was sure still haunted _Shiro's_ nightmares, the strongest guy Lance knew. The planet was brown, looking like a lifeless Earth. No beautiful blue of ocean water. Just a dead looking brown. Dead. Like what happened to most of the aliens brought there.

But Lance still held hope. The rebels had a plan. He was putting all his hope in it. Soon he'd be wrapped up in a soft blanket, sipping something warm. He was so thirsty, when was the last time he even ate? His stomach was just a mass of pain, but that blended in well to everything else.

"There's a plan. Don't worry. We just have to buy some time." Lance muttered, barely a whisper so no one could overhear him.

Matt sat up straighter at this though, eyes sparkling in wonder at Lance, amazing that somehow he had orchestrated a plan amongst all of this.

Though he couldn't take credit for this, didn't deserve the credit. Phyllana had saved him, both of them, and if all went well then hopefully all of the captives on this stupid planet.

They descended through dust storms, the dry earth blowing around in the wind and he could feel Matt shaking beside him.

Lance was afraid too, but Matt had experience here and it had left him and Shiro scarred.  That was scarier than anything.

They flew over multiple ships, big and small, many of them Lance didn't even recognize as Galran. Then he realized that they were probably personal ships, of either Galra or other alien species that had come to _watch_. They sped over a conglomeration of buildings and Lance spotted a large dome at the end and assumed that's where the fights were held. The rest of the buildings must be for prisoner holding, or whatever other Galra business needed to be done here.

But where would the rebels begin their attack? Where would be the best strategic action plan? Where would Lance and everyone else have to be to get out of here? What was the best option? Lance wasn't sure he'd have a choice in the matter anyway.

They landed and were ushered off, single file, into a nearby building and lead through a series of tunnels. They were led into holding cells, dark and dank, with about 5 other inmates. All wearing the same things Matt wore with that odd purple poncho looking thing. Lance was still in his under armor, opened to expose his damaged chest with the arms of the suit tied around his waist to keep it from flapping around. It was both cold and uncomfortable but even if he was cold he couldn't get his broken arm through the arm of the suit now anyway. Well he could but the pain wouldn't be worth it.Plus he was still shackled.

Though that problem was solved right away, the soldier quickly releasing the restraints before departing without another word.

It seemed like they'd be leaving them in there for a bit so Lance slid down the wall and slouched on the ground. Groaning as he brought his arm around in front of him, the limb beginning to turn an ugly purple to match his chest, with the pain to match.

Matt knelt down in front of him, still too limber for a guy who looked so bruised, hands reached out in a loss of what to do to help.

"So? What's the plan?" He whispered, the other prisoners ignoring the new additions, Lance noticed with some relief. All they needed was to get killed by angry prisoners before they could get saved.

"You really think this is a good place to talk about that?" Lance asked back with a dry look. Matt seemed to decide what to do at this point, taking off the purple poncho like thing and tearing it with his hands.

"Well, can I help at all?" Matt asked, still looking far too optimistic. He really put a lot of faith in Lance didn't he?

"Oh, no. We just need time."  Lance responded, leaning his hammering head against the wall as a headache announced itself.

Matt moved in a bit closer with his now ruined cloth and Lance finally realized what he was doing, he had made a sling for Lance's arm. Gently, as gently as he could Matt lifted Lance's arm, placing it in the fabric before wrapping the ends around the back of Lance's head to tie it around his neck.

Lance was grateful and helped where he could, the weight was bearable on his neck and already it felt so much better to be immobilized. 

"Thanks, Matt." He muttered once it was all done, getting a half smile in return.

Now they just had to wait, right? But once they got rescued then what? Hopefully they could return him to the rest of Voltron and they could throw him in a pod and then he'd feel like new and they could move on from this.

The thought of reuniting with his team was enough to bring a small smile to his lips. Pidge would be so happy to see Matt and all they had to do now is wait here in a cell for a little bit and then they'd be free. That wasn't so hard, this should be the easiest thing he'd done yet.

He'd jinxed it. He'd definitely jinxed it. Because not even five minutes later guess who showed up at the door. None other than the one eyed Ratman, now sporting a fancy yellow eye glowing where Lance had stabbed him, looking more like Sendak then ever.

"Line up, single file. Paladin of Voltron, you are first."

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Don't forget to comment, they give me liiiiiiiiife!


	10. Heart Of Gold

* * *

They found one. Out of twenty one Galra ships shot down, _one_ of their homing devices was salvageable. It was an odd little egg shaped thing and Shiro felt out of place as Pidge, Hunk, Coran and Allura sat around it and honestly to him it sounded like they were talking gibberish.

Keith sat off to the side of Shiro, looking as lost as Shiro felt. Shiro has some science knowledge, but even to the trip to Kerberos his intelligence was surpassed by the Holts. It was the same situation here. It had never bugged him before, but now he wished he could help in some way to at least help speed things along.

Apparently Keith was having the same thoughts, if the bouncing of his leg has anything to say about it. They were both intelligent people, just in specific things, they all had their strengths, it just do happened they needed Pidge's and Hunk's at the moment.

"If we- _When_ we get him back..." Keith corrected, startling Shiro out of his thoughts and surprising him, it was rare for Keith to start a conversation if he was upset over something. He usually waited for Shiro to initiate. "How do I...What do I...?"

There was a pregnant pause and Shiro waited patiently for Keith to find the right words.

"What do I even say to him?"

The question was interesting, Shiro wasn't exactly sure what he meant but he at least knew Keith was referring to Lance. So he went with, "Whatever you feel like. Go with your gut." Keith was a gut orientated kind of guy, but it still sounded weird once he said it.

By the sigh that came out of Keith it apparently wasn't the answer he was looking for so Shiro waited for something else.

"How do I...apologize? How can I apologize for something like that? How do I even start? I can't make that up to him, if I'd been faster, if I'd dodged that shot I could have got him out of there, I wouldn't have hurt him. He wouldn't be there in the first place, how can I say sorry for that kind of thing? How could a word make a difference? How do I word it so it _would_ make a difference?"

Ah, Shiro grimaced, that's what this was all about. Blame. Something Shiro himself was all too familiar with.

"Keith, it wasn't your fault. I'll repeat it however many times you need until you believe it. He's not going to need an apology, I think you know that. If you think it'll ease your guilt then just talk to him, he'll listen." Shiro said, placing a hand on Keith's shoulder for support, it seemed to satiate him for now, though Shiro could still feel Keith hesitant to accept the reassurance.

He knew that guilty feeling well, he was feeling it himself, Shiro would probably attempt an apology too, however futile it was.

But to apologize they'd need to get him back first.

The room  fell silent, the other four's rather loud discussion suddenly ceasing.

"So? Did we figure it out?" Keith asked, beating Shiro to the punch as he stood up alert.

"Well..." Hunk trailed off.

"In order to magnify this to find the ship we'd have to use the crystal." Allura pointed above them to the large Balmera crystal they had replaced once what felt like forever ago.

"Okay? How do we start?" Keith didn't understand the somber feeling, if they'd figured it out then why weren't they moving. Hadn't they already known they were going to use the crystal in the first place?

"Unfortunately it's not that easy, my boy. This little device here uses sucks a lot of energy, and uses a very high frequency, so high in fact that it could very well end up...well...cracking the crystal." Coran said, hand twirling his mustache as he looked up at the crystal in thought.

"Cracking it? Would it be usable after?" Shiro asked, trying to resist sighing. They just couldn't catch a break it seemed.

"It's impossible to tell. We use this thing and the crystal _will_ crack, I'm sure of it. If it holds after that then maybe we can jump once, maybe it'll hold up for another  fifteen jumps, who knows. But if the crystal does break...then we are out of power." Pidge stood, frustrated look on her face again.

"So we could jump towards where Lance is and have no way of retreating even after we get him?" The question was more of a statement then a question but Shiro couldn't help but ask it.

"So worst case scenario, we jump to rescue him and we all get stuck, and captured too." Hunk said, shoulders sagging.

"Or we end up rescuing him and jumping away then losing power. Then the healing pods wouldn't work, and I bet he's going to need them. I don't think the Galra would have healed him as a prisoner." Keith muttered, voice unusually quiet.

"Well, we could always jump there, rescue him, and then jump to the nearest Balmera to get a new crystal in case it cracks. We are going to need a new one anyway." Pidge said.

There was a few nods around the room.

"That still leaves the chance it breaks on the first jump or even right after hooking up the device." Shiro said, knowing what he was implying. It could leave them all stranded or all captured and he was asking the team if they were prepared for that. Shiro was, even with the crappy luck they had been having lately. They couldn't just continue to do nothing.

"It's highly irresponsible but...I'm willing to risk it. We can jump a few tics away from the ship and then go from there." Allura said, looking around the room, head held high and sure. A chorus of agreement rang out and Pidge got to work connecting the device without further questioning. Shiro was proud to see a total lack of hesitation on anyone's part, they all wanted Lance back badly.

"Okay, but what happens if we lose power, would we be locked out of our lions again?" Keith asked.

"Pidge and I installed some nifty manual releases on the lions chambers after that fiasco." Coran explained. That was good, at least if it broke right away they'd still have access to their lions.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Pidge continued to work, Hunk pointing out a few things along the way to assist. Shiro ran through possible scenarios in his head. They had all been discussing the whole 'rescue Lance' part so dismissively. It could be a very difficult thing to do depending on where Lance was being held or how far out the ship was. It might be a few jumps away.

"Okay, its ready. I just have to connect this wire and it'll give us coordinates and from there, we can hopefully jump." Pidge said, sitting cross legged and looking around for any confirmations.

Allura looked towards Shiro, who nodded back in affirmation.

"Do it."

* * *

"Get to the back of the line." Lance whispered to Matt, pushing him away towards the back of the cell where the other prisoners were beginning to line up. Some murmuring about the word 'paladin' that Ratman had used. Yeah, Voltron and its paladins were a common source of hope to a lot of aliens now a days, Lance was sorry to disappoint them this time. He wasn't in much of a position to help.

Lance knew they needed time, but if he was going in first he might not have enough. If Matt was the last, or near the last to go in, then at least he might have a chance to be rescued.

Of course Matt opened his mouth to argue but before he could say anything he heard Ratman laugh, cruel and dark.

"No, I think this one here," Ratman grabbed a hold of Matt's arms, dragging him towards the exit, towering over him with a smile, "will be right behind you, vermin. So if you fail, he'll be next to die. His blood will be on your hands." With that Ratman gestured to the front of the now formed line.

Lance stayed back, not afraid to look like a coward if it bought them a few more seconds. They just needed time. His eyes searched the cell but there was nothing, nothing there to even go for Ratman's other eye with. It didn't take long for him to be hauled out, another soldier gripping his neck all too roughly and throwing him out into the hallway. He had to move, he at least tried to walk slowly.

Eventually they were all let go to walk on their own with less man-handling, guards only in the front and bringing up the rear, Lance leading the way behind Ratman. Feeling like he was leading everyone to their deaths.

If the rebels took too long he would be.

They walked by cells full of creatures on the way, through some doors and into another building. It felt like they were walking for a long time when the ceilings started to slope upwards. They were close to the dome. Close to the actual Arena now.

"Lance?" Matt's voice came out as a whisper, wavering.

"I know." Lance said back, not sure exactly what it was that he knew. He knew they were there. He knew he needed to buy time. He knew that him dying might actually be an option and soon. He knew that if he died that Matt would be next. He knew that if he died then Phyllana's sacrifice would be for nothing.

He knew he couldn't let that happen. He knew that some way, somehow, he'd have to beat whatever it was he'd be pitted against, with one arm, a chest full of who knows what kind of internal injuries, and a lion keeping him alive with quintessence.

He'd have to stay alive with his own power.

So, no pressure.

They stopped at  small set of stairs that lead up to a see-through door. He could hear muffled screams and cheers coming from the lit up area past the door. Something massive was in the middle, green and lumpy skin moving slowly but powerfully on four legs. Four large pillars curved up from the ground from the corner of a lighter colored square, showing the corners of the Arena area, and right in the middle was the monster. Beyond that was massive stands, full of aliens, mostly purple Galra but Lance caught some colors of other species joining in on the _fun_.

And there, in front of the huge Godzilla-like monster was a small alien, gold in color, like the pretty ones Lance had seen on the Galra ship, sparkling like the Sun and shaking like a leaf, unable to move. The huge monster, Lance would just be calling it Godzilla for now, since it could stand on its back feet like it was bipedal and kinda looked like a lizard with the exception of its long snout like a dog, brimming with overflowing teeth.

The little alien, probably just a foot shorter than Lance didn't stand a chance. He didn't even look like he knew how to fight.

"Hey!" Lance shouted, unable to stop himself. This was wrong. The alien couldn't defend himself, the sword they gave him looking more like a toothpick to Godzilla than a threat.

The Galra standing guard at the door and Ratman ignored him.

"Hey! Stop this! I'll go in! I'll go in for him! Let him go!" Lance panicked, shoving at Ratman with his good hand, unable to even move him but desperate for someone to stop what was going on.

Ratman looked down at him in disdain, grabbing Lance's head in his hand and jerking him forwards up the stairs. He shoved his face against the glass so Lance could see the whole ordeal even better, Lance felt blood start to run from his nose again. He tried to push away from the glass but against Galra strength it wasn't possible. Distantly he heard Matt's protests behind him but they were helpless here, out-manned and out-muscled.

"This is his fate, as it is yours. Weaklings become nothing but a puddle on the floor." Ratman growled in his ear.

Lance had a first row seat to watch in horror as the monster brought a huge claw down on top of the little gold alien. He heard the thud, the cheering from the stands vibrating through the very floor and the huge monster lifted its limb again. Leaving nothing behind but blood and the sharp white contrast of some bones here and there. Lance felt his knees give out, Ratman let him fall.

No more gold. No more beautiful shimmer. Reduced to just...a puddle on the floor.

Lance closed his eyes, but still saw the image, now burned into his mind forever and felt so nauseous he had to swallow as his mouth began to water.

Without warning he was thrown back, down the few steps, Matt doing his best to catch him as he finally broke out of a guards grasp.

Lance ended up half in Matt's lap slumped on the floor together.

"-nce? Lance? Hey?" Matt's voice came through the ringing that Lance just realized was in his ears. There was hands on his face, shaking, terrified, trying to get him to look at him, trying to wipe the blood from his face just to be replaced with more.

"I'm okay." Came out automatically, unable to meet Matt's eyes for fear he'd see how much of a lie that was as he pushed Matt's hands away. Using a bit of his own strength to sit up and out of Matt's lap, but didn't move far from Matt's side on the ground. He wasn't okay. He wasn't sure he'd ever be at this point. People died so fast and so easily around him.

He'd have to go up against...against that thing. That thing, that _Godzilla_ , that had probably already killed hundreds, if not thousands of innocent lives. Without his gun, without his lion, without Voltron.

Suddenly he felt very small.

He heard the Galrans talking, discussing the order of the prisoners now and Lance took in a breath.

"Matt, listen to me." Lance said, finally looking over at Matt, whose white face already looked seconds away from a full blown panic attack. Lance could relate to that.

"No, no we aren't doing this okay. No cliché goodbyes, not doing it. This isn't supposed to be goodbye. _Where the hell are they Lance_?" Matt shot back, voice getting fast and high, hands finding and tightening on Lance's shoulders. Sounding as panicked as Lance was feeling.

"Matt. I don't know. Okay? But listen to me. The druids. They're Alteans, brainwashed Alteans. They were taken from Altea against their will, you have to tell my team okay? You have to tell them to save them okay?" The words poured from his mouth, desperate to pass on the knowledge so they aren't kept prisoners forever. It was the least he could do at this point.

"W-What? No, Lance this is sounding like a goodby-"

"Tell them. Please. Tell them I'm sorry, okay? Tell them I tried my best." This was it, he could hear footsteps approaching them.

"No! Dammit, this can't be happening all over agai-"

He was pulled to his feet. Immediately he felt small hands grab onto him, trying desperately to pull him away from the Galra trying to take him.

"No! I'll go in! I'll go in first! Please!" Matt shouted, tears coming down his face and Lance couldn't help but think he looked so young, so much like Pidge in that moment. It made Lance glad that he was going first.

Another Galra ripped Matt from Lance, Ratman himself pulling Lance up the stairs, thrusting a sword to his chest with a "Entertain me, vermin, and we'll get you a nice new arm." and then he was shoved stumbling towards the now opened door towards the Arena.

He glanced back, heart pounding in his head and saw Matt still fighting to get out of the Galra grip, wide eyes staring back up at him.

"Tell them." Lance said, eerily calm for a moment, "I'm sorry."

The door swung shut on the horrible scream Matt let out and Lance turned to face his fate.

* * *

 

As soon as Pidge connected the wires there was sparks and the crystal lit up. A map display appeared, a bright yellow coordinate pinging off a world unfamiliar to them, but not too horribly far away, within one jump if Shiro's calculations were correct. It was a brief moment of relief.

Then the crystal cracked, the noise audible, making everyone flinch as a visible crack split up from the bottom of the crystal. Spidering along, small pieces actually falling to the ground and shattering into dust.

"Shut it off!" Allura yelled, seeing as the cracks kept sparking and spreading the longer the device was hooked up. Pidge started ripping out wires, trying to disconnect the thing properly but the crystal was still cracking. That was about the time Hunk stepped in, picked up the egg shaped device and ripped the entire thing out of the system Pidge had created.

It was quiet then, as everyone held their breath, Hunk still posed with the thing over his head. The power was still on and the coordinates were still up and showing on the map. Little pieces of the crystal continued to tinker to the ground, the only sound in the bridge.

After a moment everyone released a breath they had been holding.

"Okay, we have the coordinates. Now hopefully she holds up for a few jumps." Allura announced, voice a bit shaky.

No one had much to say as they plugged in the coordinates and prepared for a jump, everyone now seated for safety. Their anxiousness palatable in the air now. They had no idea what they were about to literally jump into. No idea what to expect, they had to be ready for anything. Possibly even ready for capture.

They were risking it all but no one seemed to even question it. Not if it was for one of them. Not if it was for Lance.

Allura initiated the jump, everyone holding their breath again, hoping the crystal would hold so they could jump away from whatever they encountered here.

The ship came to a halt, the planet still a little distance out but still very visible, looking similar to the size of Earth.

Shiro didn't hear the happy cheers from his teammates at how the crystal had held up. He didn't even notice the power was still on. His vision seemed to tunnel in on the planet in front of him. The horribly familiar planet. The worst planet Shiro had ever been on.

"No..." Escaped his lips. It was quiet but it was distraught enough for his team to hear him and turn.

He put his head in his shaking hands, closed his eyes at the unwanted memories. This was his worst fear, the worst place they could have brought Lance.

"Shiro?" Keith's hand on his shoulder didn't help to draw him out of the flashbacks now plaguing his mind.

The Arena. That was the planet the Arena was on. Shiro had no idea where in the Universe it was until now but he recognized it immediately.

His team waited for him for a moment to get his bearings. He took a unsteady breath and held it. Not Lance. Not there.

"That's the Arena." He managed to get out, throat already tight at the implications that came with that statement.

There was a moment of shocked silence before all hell irrupted. Mostly confusion, a lot of anger. It took a bit for everyone to calm down, Allura's voice talking over everyone's by the end.

"That makes no sense, why would they take a paladin there? Zarkon wanted paladins to be taken to him the last I heard, why would that change?" Allura wondered out loud, an angry look still coming through on her face.

"Who cares! Let's get him out of there! We are wasting time!" Keith shouted, shaking like Shiro.

Shiro had told Keith more details of what went on there than anyone else. He had a right to fear for Lance, Shiro was terrified.

Shiro was scared of even setting foot back on the planet himself.

"Wait a minute, aren't those rebel ships?" Pidge's voice cut through the tension, pointing as she brought up a screen.

Sure enough, there was a mass amount of ships approaching the planet, a lot looking homemade in certain aspects. They seemed ready for attack.

"Contact them!" Allura said, a new hope on her face.

* * *

Lance stayed calm for a whole five seconds after the door closed behind him. There was a short flat dark walkway out to the lit up area, most of the space taken up by the massive monster Lance was somehow supposed to face. He gripped the sword he was given in his left hand, it felt awkward and foreign to him. His right still sitting in its sling, uselessly.

This was so not good. This wasn't looking good. Lance needed a plan.

He didn't even have to kill it, he just had to buy some time until they got rescued. The thing hadn't even seen him yet, if it did it could corner him here, which was terrifying in and of itself, but it was still far away. Lance took the opportunity to take in as many details as he could before it noticed him.

Godzilla had four eyes, one set behind the other, so it probably had a real wide range of vision. Hiding in a possible blind spot might not be a possibility. It stood at a good twenty feet tall, probably able to reach the edges of the stands and crawl up into the audience if it wanted. These were creatures made by the Galra though, designed to kill specific target, aka him, so no one seemed worried. It had a long tail that implied an unfair reach past what it's arms could get at and long spikes up it and it's spine, so he should try to stay out of range of that. Somehow. Obviously he had to stay out of the reach of all its limbs, something easier said than done in such a small space. Those pillars were the only source of cover from this thing and Lance didn't think he could hide from this thing for long, judging by its snout it might have a good sense of smell too. The pillars had about five feet of space behind them before the sheer wall of the audience stands began. The only good thing about all this was that Lance hadn't seen the thing move very quickly, it seemed to malformed to be quick, instead moving with strong purposeful movements.

So hopefully, predictable and dodge-able movements.

Lance was not good enough with a sword to take this thing down, plus even if he could somehow gain those skills he didn't think it would help him, the skin looked way to thick to just hack away at, even at its underbelly.

So stabbing the thing to death wasn't an option either.

So he couldn't hide from it and couldn't use the sword to kill it then what the hell was he supposed to do?

Maybe he could he go all How to Train Your Dragon on it? Then use his new buddy to crawl out of the building, destroy the crowd. That idea was forgotten quickly.

He glanced over at the crowd, now beginning to boo at him, rude, as someone announced who he was. His eye caught onto smaller bodies, children, Galran, some of them that looked scared just being there.

The thought that everything, everyone, isn't always what they seem came to his thoughts. The Druids, aliens Lance had once been terrified of and assumed were all evil to their core were not what they seemed. Innocent in the grand scheme of things.

Not all Galra were bad, Keith was a great example of that, but even those raised in the Galra world were scared. Not all wanted to be there. Some were forced. Some were brainwashed. Some were terrified.

How was this war even fightable at this point? How were they supposed to help everyone? Even the enemy?

Lance took a step forward, torn between wanting to hide and unwilling to be caught in a corner when the thing did see him. It seemed distracted in the opposite direction for now, but its nose was sniffing away at the ground.

His family came to his mind suddenly, maybe because he was facing peril, and it made him want to collapse to his knees and cry. What would they think if they could see him now? Would they ever know what happened to him?

Would they bury an empty casket?

All these thoughts sparked a fire in him. He was scared out of his wits, but Shiro had done this kind of thing again and again and he was only a human.

An amazing human with some superb fighting skills, but still just a human.

Lance just had to use his brain to get out of this one, he just had to think his way out.

Walking out into the light the booing intensified but Lance couldn't hear it, his mind was going a million miles an hour, through possible situations. He stopped before the still drying mass of blood that not even ten minutes before had been a living breathing thing. They had cleaned up most of it, but the ground was still damp and red.

Without thinking Lance knelt down, dropping the sword and placed his hand on the dirt. It was still warm, like it still held life.

"I'm sorry." Lance whispered, the sound lost in the screams of the crowd.

He heard clicking of nails as Godzilla moved, Lance's head snapping up to see it's front set of eyes shift and focus in on him, the back ones not bothering to move at all.

And there stood Lance, who had finally came up with a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and commenting, makes me so happy <3


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